TOO many firsts in the just ended US Open tennis but, definitely, Alex Eala’s own feat ranks high in the pantheon of great accomplishments recorded in the two-week event.
In winning the junior girls singles title, Eala became the first Filipino—and Asian for that matter?—to win a Grand Slam in a sport close to the heart of mankind.
Her victory’s astonishing significance is embellished all the more by the fact that it came in the world’s oldest tennis tournament.
As you all know, the US Open had just concluded its 142nd edition; that makes it seven years older than Wimbledon, the equally much-revered event which recently celebrated its 132nd season in grand style as usual.
It took nearly five years of hard work at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain, before Alex Eala scored her breakthrough triumph in a major.
“I credit Mr. Nadal very much for this win as his calmness and fighting spirit up to the very last point have become my guiding light in my journey,” said Eala, who, at 13, got invited by Nadal in 2018 as a tennis scholar following her victory in France that year.
Living legends see a diamond in the rough when they see one. Nadal, whose 22 Grand Slams is an all-time high, is no exception.
His gut feel paid off so quickly as Eala’s telltale skill and talent have sprung up early.
Before her US Open triumph last weekend, Eala won the junior doubles crown in the 2020 Australian Open, the first of four majors tabled yearly.
The following year, Eala, turning sweet 16, pocketed the same junior doubles title in the 2021 French Open.
And now this, the US Open singles junior trophy as her most prized possession yet. Only 17. And already a Grand Slam champion—this time, doing it solely through her own true grit and undiminished tenacity under grinding pressure.
“I offer this victory to my country in my wish to make Philippine tennis grow in popularity,” said Eala, who, in speaking in Tagalog, also made another first by becoming the first Filipino champion on the world stage to deliver a victory speech in the native tongue.
She did it despite her being exceedingly fluent in English—she being also an A-grade student at Mallorca’s International School while on a tennis scholarship.
To say she exhibited patriotism of the first degree would be sports’ understatement of the year. Look, she just taught us the politically correct way to behave on the global platform: Words from the heart can come only through our national language.
Beauty queens, take heed, please?
THAT’S IT And what were the other firsts logged in the US Open? As a 19-year-old, Carlos Alcaraz became the first teenage champion in a men’s major since Nadal at the 2005 French Open. He also became the first teenager to win a Slam in New York since Pete Sampras in 1990. Alcaraz, a Spaniard like Nadal, scored a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory over Casper Ruud, the first finalist ever in a major from Norway. In winning the ladies singles, Iga Swiatek became the first Polish to win the US Open. Her victim, Ons Jabeur, was the first finalist in a major from Tunisia, in the process becoming the first Arab-African to contend for a Slam trophy. Another first was Nadal’s shock defeat to American upstart Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round, marking the Spaniard’s first Grand Slam loss in over a year. Alcaraz avenged his countryman’s loss by bundling Tiafoe out in the semifinals. And will Alex Eala become the first Filipino to soon play professional tennis big time? Why not?