Greg Rusedski has outlined the first thing a player should do when preparing to face Alex Eala.<\/p>\n
This year just keeps on getting better for the 21-year-old after she lifted the Washington Open trophy following a three-set comeback win over Jessica Pegula<\/a>.<\/p>\n The American took the first set 6-4 before rain and lightning halted play when Eala<\/a> was 2-1 up in the second on Sunday. Play resumed on Monday, and Pegula ended up winning just three more games in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory for the Filipina.<\/p>\n The unseeded youngster became the first player from her country to win a WTA Tour<\/a> title, a result that saw her crack the top 20 in the rankings for the first time.<\/p>\n After her triumph, she said, \u201cI feel so much love. I knew whatever happened, this match would have already been a win for me. My first chance at a title, knowing it won\u2019t be the last, and already [I\u2019ve] achieved this milestone for my career.\u201d<\/p>\n Who is Alex Eala\u2019s coach? The Rafael Nadal academy guru masterminding her Washington Open triumph<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Alex Eala: What ranking points did Filipina and Jessica Pegula earn in Washington?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Despite all the excitement around Eala, she still has her detractors. Although she is now in the top 20, her serving stats are well outside the top 50. Indeed, Serena Williams\u2019 coach, Rennae Stubbs, thinks she won\u2019t win a Grand Slam with that in her arsenal<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, Rusedski<\/a> thinks that relative weakness can be sharpened up, with the former British No 1 backing Eala to make some serving improvements ahead of the 2027 season.<\/p>\n While Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard\u2019s coach has called her the \u201cmost exciting\u201d player on the women\u2019s tour, with a great mentality and return game, the former US Open finalist would encourage her opponents to always make the Filipina serve first in a match to potentially knock her confidence.<\/p>\n He said on the latest episode of Off Court with Greg Rusedski<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cI think that\u2019s [Eala\u2019s serve] something that she can work on in the off-season, continue to build up, and work with her coach. She\u2019s got a great bunch of people around her, and players will talk in the locker room.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question mark for me is when she plays the [Aryna] Sabalenkas or the [Elena] Rybakinas, they\u2019re going to step in, and they\u2019re going to crunch that second serve, especially on a hard court where you get a true bounce.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what I\u2019m impressed with is how she holds her position on the baseline; her returns are exceptional. The way she takes the ball so early, she likes to win the battle of the real estate, but the problem she has with the second service was when you get Rybakina and Sabalenka, they\u2019re not going to hold back, especially on a hard court with the true bounce.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re just going to go rifling, but it\u2019s the battle because you know, Eala is going to break you a lot of times. So that puts undue pressure on your service game. And do you have the mentality to keep on going after?<\/p>\n \u201cSo if I was playing and coaching [against] Eala, I\u2019d always get her to serve first. I\u2019d say \u2018I\u2019m returning first, let\u2019s put the pressure on her right away and go after it\u2019. That said, her mentality is second to none.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Alex Eala: Greg Rusedski predicts when Filipina will start challenging for Grand Slams<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Top ATP coach reveals the first thing players should do against Washington champion Alex Eala<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greg Rusedski has outlined the first thing a player should do when preparing to face Alex Eala. This year just keeps on getting better for the 21-year-old after she lifted the Washington Open trophy following a three-set comeback win over Jessica Pegula. The American took the first set 6-4 before rain and lightning halted play […]<\/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-2585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585","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=2585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Alex Eala News<\/strong><\/h2>\n