Eala embraces pressure brought by huge fanbase
MANILA, Philippines — Overwhelming support and love from fans could be a double-edged sword for athletes.
Just ask Alex Eala.
Eala, arguably the most famous Filipino athlete right now, admitted that getting so much support and love definitely comes with heavy pressure.
In an interview with Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova over her podcast Pretty Tough, Eala said that with overwhelming support, there is more pressure now for her to perform better.
But, it is not necessarily a bad thing.
“It can get heavy. It can. It can. And it definitely comes with pressure. One thing about this whole journey of support that I've been getting is I understand the weight that the representation holds,” Eala said.
“I know that there's a big audience that looks up to me. But I guess it forces me to look inward as well,” he added.
She said that with more people looking up to her, she pushes herself to be the best version of Alex Eala.
“I wanna be the best version I can be of myself. So that I'm genuinely a good example for whoever looks up to me. And I'm genuinely… I try to do my best and represent my culture and these people, these lovely people, the way they deserve to be represented. And, you know, it's a very emotional experience,” the 21-year-old said.
“What I learned is that when there's that many people involved, my experience has become a lot more emotional because of the pressure. Because I know how bad I want it. Because I know what I represent. All of those things make this journey so much more emotional,” she added.
“And that's not a bad thing. You know, I love, you know, feeling my emotions. I'm very in tune with them. I think it's nice to experience life like this. I think it adds to the foundation of discipline and how driven I already am.”
The pride of the Philippines also admitted that there is “extra pressure that comes with losing.”
“And I think now, going back to what Billie Jean King said, pressure is a privilege. And I'm able to experience for the first time I'm in a position where I'm supposed to win. And so that's different. But I like to be in that position. I like competition in general. So whether I'm the underdog or I'm the one supposed to win, I love it,” she said.
“I love being there. I had a tough loss here in US Open. I think I played really well and I had my chances to win. I definitely had my chances to win. I had a very difficult time after the loss, especially the first few moments after. But then, you know, as time went by, I just looked at my team and I'm so proud of the work that we've put in,” she added.
Her matches have been a hit, wherever her match is.
Fans flock the stadiums where she plays, and whenever she’s up, or trailing, chants of “Let’s go Alex, let’s go!” can usually be heard.
So much so, that umpires remind the crowd not to cheer during play.
Eala is currently ranked 18th in the world in women’s singles’ tennis.
The Filipina had a meteoric rise in the rankings starting in the Miami Open last year, where she reached the semifinal round after winning over multiple tennisters inside the top 25, including then-World No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko, World No. 5 Madison Keys, World No. 10 Paula Badosa (via walkover) and World No. 2 Iga Swiatek before falling against Jessica Pegula.
After barging into the top 100 in rankings, she has not left.
From that point on, Eala has made deep runs in Wimbledon and the US Open.
She also won a title in the Mubadala DC Open, becoming the first Filipino to claim a WTA title.
“Being an athlete, a professional athlete, is about consistency. And consistency at the highest level. Being able to show up every single time. So I feel like when I did that Miami run, I wasn't looking back. I was looking forward, you know?” she said.
“So I felt, you hear a lot of these one-offs, all these stories about it being one-off, when people rise and have a great result and then, for one reason or another, have difficulty maintaining said level,” she added.
“So I told myself, you know, you can achieve this level, you've proven that you can do it, but that doesn't mean you're there yet. So it's an accumulation of all those things coming together.”
Eala will be back in action in the Wuhan Open, which is set to kick off next week.
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