Filipino junior tennis ace Alex Eala revealed her goal of joining the Paris Olympics in 2024 at the media conference for the 917 G-Day launch event on September 16, 2022.
Eala talked about the significance of representing the Philippines at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Definitely! Actually, I haven’t thought about it yet, but if my ranking allows it, it’s definitely one of my goals. I talk a lot about representing the country, and I think that’s one of the biggest stages to do that in sport. So definitely one of my biggest goals.”
She also gave some insight into her tailor-fitted training regimen for each of her competitions.
“I think there were many changes in my program this past couple of months. It [wasn’t necessarily directed] to this specific tournament. I tried to prepare a couple of weeks of training for another [couple of weeks of [tournaments].
“So I guess I’m just so happy, and I’m so glad that this one was one of the ones [that I] ended up winning. And definitely, much more quantity, I wouldn’t say much more, but more quantity. And I’m able to hold the quality much longer.”
When asked about competing at the SEA Games again, she noted that she’s open to the opportunity.
“There’s been a lot of hard times this year. It hasn’t always been going smoothly, especially during the start of the year because I have just [come back] from an injury. But I think I’ve [come to learn] that there’s always be hard times, and you need to wait out and continue to work hard and do what you love, and there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Eala made history after winning the junior Grand Slam singles at the 2022 US Open, which made her the first Filipino player to snag the title.
Her stellar tennis career started when she was 12 and won the 2018 Les Petit As 14-and-under tournament, beating Linda Nosková. She then made her junior Grand Slam debut at the 2019 US Open and became the Milo Junior Athlete of the Year in 2019.
She also won doubles titles in the 2020 Australian Girls Doubles with Priska Madelyn Nugroho and the 2021 French Open girls’ doubles with Oksana Selekhmeteva. She also won three Bronze medals at the 2021 SEA Games.
Since her early success, Eala has been one of the Ambassadors of the Philippine Telecommunications company, Globe.
