Four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters has stressed the importance of Alex Eala being \u201cprotected\u201d as she described the WTA star as being \u201clike Michael Jordan in the Philippines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eala<\/a> has risen to superstar status in the Philippines after her rapid rise and trailblazing tennis achievements for her home nation in the past year.<\/p>\n During her breakout 2025 season, Eala became the first player in her country\u2019s history to: be ranked in the top 100, beat a top five player, reach a WTA Tour final, win a WTA Challenger title and win a Grand Slam main draw match.<\/p>\n The 20-year-old is at a career-high ranking of world No 31 after reaching quarter-finals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi during the WTA\u2019s Middle East swing this month.<\/p>\n The Filipina has received staggering support from her compatriots in 2026, with her matches at the Australian Open, her home event in Manila, and the Dubai Championships drawing particularly huge crowds.<\/p>\n On the latest episode of her Love All podcast, Clijsters spoke about the challenges that come with Eala\u2019s immense popularity after she \u201cgot a lot of hate\u201d following her opening round Australian Open exit.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving that support, we saw it this year after the Australian Open where Rafa [Nadal] spoke out about being a little bit of a protector for her as well, because when she lost to Alycia Parks at the Australian Open in a close three-setter, she also got a lot of hate from her fans and from the Philippine world, and the fans that support her from her home country,\u201d said the Belgian great.<\/p>\n \u2018Absolute rock star\u2019 Alex Eala named the \u2018biggest draw in women\u2019s tennis\u2019 over Sabalenka and Gauff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Former world No 1 reveals how Alex Eala makes opponents \u2018very uncomfortable\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSo there\u2019s a lot of new things that she\u2019s dealing with at such a young age. She\u2019s been in Spain for many years since I think she was 13 \u2014 she moved to Spain and trained at Rafa\u2019s academy.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s been around people with a mindset that demands a lot but is also very focused on: you have to put in the work, you are respectful.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd she\u2019s been around that environment, and I think there\u2019s no coincidence that she has the results that she has.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think it\u2019s very important for her to be a little bit protected from the craziness that comes with that all as well. And just the ability to keep focusing on what she has to do.\u201d<\/p>\n The former world No 1 added: \u201c[She has to] deal with this life of being like Michael Jordan in the Philippines.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople just think it\u2019s online and it\u2019s in the news and everything, but it\u2019s not easy, I think, to deal with changes like that, so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: WTA Indian Wells: How many points will Sabalenka, Swiatek, Andreeva, Mboko, Eala drop?<\/a> The post \u2018Alex Eala must be protected \u2013 she\u2019s like Michael Jordan in the Philippines\u2019, warns tennis great<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters has stressed the importance of Alex Eala being \u201cprotected\u201d as she described the WTA star as being \u201clike Michael Jordan in the Philippines.\u201d Eala has risen to superstar status in the Philippines after her rapid rise and trailblazing tennis achievements for her home nation in the past year. During […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Alex Eala News<\/h2>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n