Tennis great Jimmy Connors has revealed he is an admirer of Alex Eala\u2019s game as he also gave his verdict on the Filipina star\u2019s huge fanbase.<\/p>\n
Eala secured her maiden career title at the WTA 500 tournament in Washington DC \u2014 a victory that saw her crack the top 20 of the rankings for the first time.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old followed up that triumph by defeating Alycia Parks in her opening match at the WTA 1000 event in Toronto on Wednesday. She will face Caty McNally in the third round in Canada.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the latest episode of the Advantage Connors<\/a> podcast, Connors candidly discussed Eala\u2019s breakthrough.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s talk about her fanbase and the success she\u2019s had, and what she brings to the women\u2019s game is pretty amazing,\u201d said the eight-time major champion.<\/p>\n \u201cThe breakthrough to win a 500. What\u2019s next on her list? A 1000 [event], because she\u2019s got that opportunity leading up to a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talk about confidence all the time, and with that confidence and with the following like that, that shows up to her matches and get behind her, I know what a crowd can do for you and how it can push you to levels of play that you never thought that you could reach yourself, because that little extra push sometimes wins matches for you.<\/p>\n Alex Eala: A look at her next opponent Caty McNally and order of play for third-round match<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Alex Eala rankings prediction: Why the hero of the Philippines may have to wait for dream breakthrough<\/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 \u201cIt\u2019s pretty amazing. And I like the way that she plays. She\u2019s left-handed, she takes the ball early, she\u2019s not afraid to be aggressive on the returns and in the way she plays.<\/p>\n \u201cVery refreshing to see that from her\u2026 and [she is] knocking on the door. Keep knocking on the door, keep knocking on those tournaments and good things will happen. It\u2019s already started for her.\u201d<\/p>\n The former world No 1 went on to reveal why he likes the vociferous support Eala receives.<\/p>\n \u201cHow good is that (the crowd support)? It pushes her,\u201d the American continued.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gets in her mind that, \u2018I\u2019m doing this for myself, and I\u2019m bringing people down on the court with me to get behind me, to be a part of what I do.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s intimidating\u2026 I like that, I like it when the crowd\u2019s getting involved and being a part of it and getting behind their players and pushing them and not being afraid to show it.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what made tennis exciting, in my opinion. Like it or not, like her or not, you\u2019re there. You want to see her win or you don\u2019t, but you\u2019re there.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd all that does is create interest in the women\u2019s game, and in particular her, which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: WTA Cincinnati Open Entry List 2026: Where will Alex Eala be seeded? Aryna Sabalenka headlines<\/a> The post Jimmy Connors gives his honest opinion on Alex Eala\u2019s game and massive fan support<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tennis great Jimmy Connors has revealed he is an admirer of Alex Eala\u2019s game as he also gave his verdict on the Filipina star\u2019s huge fanbase. Eala secured her maiden career title at the WTA 500 tournament in Washington DC \u2014 a victory that saw her crack the top 20 of the rankings for the […]<\/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-2603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603","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=2603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Alex Eala News<\/h2>\n
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