Alexandra Eala has admitted she has a long way to go in her development before she is ready to compete with the top players in the game consistently.
Eala sent shockwaves through tennis as she beat Australian Open champion Madison Keys and five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek amid a stunning run to the semi-finals at the Miami Open.
Those wins fired Eala into the top 100 of the WTA Rankings for the first time, but the 20-year-old has not repeated her Miami heroics in subsequent tournaments and she has told Tennis365 that time will be needed before she can challenge the game’s best players consistently.
Some observers have compared Eala’s breakthrough to that of Emma Raducanu after her 2021 US Open win, but she has stressed that her path to the time will not be fast-tracked.
“Do I feel like I am close to being a top ten player at this moment? I would say no,” conceded Eala in an exclusive interview with Tennis365 as she competes at the Lexus Birmingham Open.
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“My level is there and I show that at times, but there are certain reasons why these players are top 10 and I’m not there yet.
“That’s not to say I don’t have the potential to be there one day, but at the moment, I still have a lot more to work on in my game.
“It is a little bit of everything I need to improve on. Mentally, technically. You look at a top 10 player and they have so many matches each year.
“The average level they bring in each match is higher than the average level I bring at the moment. I have to try and work hard to get there.”
Eala gave us a glimpse into her mindset when she is on court with giants of the game like Swiatek and Keys, as she insists she is not intimidated by the reputation of an opponent.
“Of course there are going to be moments when you feel under pressure because these top players can play so well, but everyone has their own flaw,” she continued.
“When you play someone like Swiatek, you know there are going to be moments when they do amazing things, but there also be moments when you will have a chance.
“Nobody is perfect and you are always going to have a chance in every match. It all depends on you and how you perform in those moments.
“My self belief has always been there, but when you have a run like that, it makes you have even more belief. Now I feel like I’m in a good moment. It has helped me and sparked a bit more belief.”
Eala also spoke about her pride at the prospect of her success inspiring young girls back home in the Philippines to pick up a tennis racket, as she admitted that is the most satisfying part of her early success.
“It just warms my heart that people in my country are looking at what I am doing and might try tennis,” she added.
“I’m travelling all the time, so I don’t get to see what is happening with tennis in the Philippines, but I get sent a lot of videos and pictures of young people saying I am inspiring them and that is so exciting for me.
“The youth and especially the young girls who are inspired by me and that makes everything so warm for me. In terms of the scale of my impact back home, I don’t have a big idea about it and I just focus on what is important and that is my tennis and trying to improve.”
You can watch Eala in action at the Birmingham Open this week and tickets are available here.
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