NOT since the early 2000s, when a young Manny Pacquiao was hammering in succession the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, and Miguel Cotto, has a local athlete captured the imagination of Filipino sports fans.
Tennis sensation Alexandra “Alex” Eala is currently on a record-breaking rise on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. This month alone, she captured her first career WTA Tour singles title at the Mubadala DC Open in Washington, D.C., defeating world No. 3 Jessica Pegula and moving into the Top 20 of the WTA rankings.
Eala has been raking in attention, an ascent likened to the popularity a young Pacquiao enjoyed.
At the height of Pacquiao’s popularity, the streets of Manila were basically empty and crime-free as fans tuned in to watch the Pacman’s fights.
Restaurants, town plazas, and movie theaters, where Pacquiao’s fights were also shown, were filled to the rim.
Public watch parties for Eala popped up dynamically during her major tournament runs, such as her historic Wimbledon campaign and the recent National Bank Open in Toronto, Canada.
Of course, the only problem is the timeline. Pacquiao’s world title fights were held in the morning or afternoon (Manila time) while in the case of Eala, fans have been forced to miss a whole lot of sleep to catch her games after midnight or before sunrise.
Pacquiao was greatly appreciated because of his unbelievable passion for the sport. Nobody trained harder than Pacquiao and he never backed off from fights opposite the marquee names. Pacquiao also earned plaudits for exhibiting a gentleman’s behavior in a sport where trash talkers are a dime a dozen.
Pacquiao won a record eight division world boxing titles from flyweight (112 lbs.) all the way up to junior middleweight (154 lbs.). At age 47, he recently returned to the fight game in the hope of securing one last title shot.
Eala, 21, is still working on winning her first “grand slam” crown.
The four major titles in professional tennis — collectively known as the Grand Slam — are the Australian Open, the French Open (Roland Garros), Wimbledon and the US Open.
For the record, Eala won the 2022 US Open girls singles title, making history as the first Filipino to win a “junior” Grand Slam singles championship. If she was able to win a “junior” version of a grand slam crown, there is no doubting her ability to win the one in the big girls turf.
Eala is the first to humbly admit that her accomplishments are nowhere close to Pacquiao’s, but fans cannot help but compare her passion to tennis to Pacquiao’s dedication to boxing.
Eala and Pacquiao entered their respective sporting discipline at a very young age.
While Eala received tremendous support from her family, the same cannot be said for Pacquiao. Pacquiao’s father abandoned the family home and a young Pacquiao ultimately ran away from home following extreme poverty and a traumatic experience where his father slaughtered and ate his dog.
Pacquiao endured harsh conditions. Boxing was not a leisure sport. It was his ticket out of poverty. He recounted an incident where he had to put heavy items or weights inside his pockets during the weigh-in so he can make the weight and avoid being disqualified.
Pacquiao, in his early days, weighed around 98 pounds, way too low for the 112-pound flyweight limit.
Eala, on the other hand, had options on the table, but she has never been away from a tennis racket since she picked one at age four. She was taught the rudiments of the sport by her grandfather and has never looked back.
Eala, like Pacquiao, is greatly admired for her conduct inside the field of battle. She does not speak ill of her adversaries and is humble enough to accept defeat.
Philippine sports have been defined by their quintessential athletes.
When Pancho Villa gave country its first world boxing championship in 1923, boxing activities in the country experienced a major boom. Gabriel “Flash” Elorde rekindled interest in boxing in the 1960s followed by Pacquiao in the 2000s.
Felicisimo “Totoy” Ampon tried to spark a tennis revolution by becoming the first Filipino tennis player to reach the singles quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament, a feat he achieved at the French Open in back-to-back years in 1952 and 1953.
Given the logistics involved (i.e., expensive equipment, tour expenses), the interest in the sport did not gain that much traction. The country had a few stars in the 1980s, notably Dyan Castillejo, Manny Tolentino, and Felix Barrientos.
Eala is on the verge of totally changing the tennis landscape in the country and the rest of the world.