Eala risks shot at rich WTA Finals

MANILA, Philippines — For Alex Eala, the sacrifice is bigger than it looks.

Skipping the China swing isn’t just about blowing away a 1000-point chance in Beijing, but blowing a real shot at the big dance – the WTA Finals.

Minus the Beijing 1000, Eala remains mathematically in the hunt. But the path just got brutally tough – highly improbable, unless she catches fire on her return in Wuhan right after carrying the flag in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

That’s the real cost here. Not just China, but a dream stint in the Finals, where she now sits six to seven spots out after a breakthrough Mubadala title and solid follow-ups at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Only the Top 8 make it. And that’s the target now for all the big guns – including Eala.

The season-ending championship – the ultimate target after the Grand Slams – has been moved this year to Indian Wells in California amid concerns over going back to Saudi Arabia due to military conflicts in the Middle East.

For the next three years, it will be in Charlotte, North Carolina – at the Spectrum Center, home of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets – in what organizers are billing as “the Super Bowl for women’s sports.”

The WTA and the Charlotte Sports Foundation announced it Wednesday.

“Our ambition is for the WTA Finals to be not only the premier championship in women’s tennis, but one of the defining global events in women sports,” said WTA chair Valerie Camillo. “We want to create the Super Bowl for women’s sports. And not just the competition, but an event that is the annual gathering for women’s tennis, women’s sports, and women’s sport business.”

For Eala and her Filipino fans, the equation is simple and cruel.

Skip China to serve the country in the Asian Games, and you leave precious points – and maybe a Finals spot – on the table.

But that’s Alex. Flag first. — John Bryan Ulanday