Joining the 2022 US Open girls’ junior tennis championship was not on the plans of Alex Eala when she and her family visited New York City early this month.
Her family just wanted to visit Alex’s grandparents, Frankie and Melinda, two long-time residents of the Big Apple.
But when the 17-year-old Eala was encouraged to join, she finally did and despite the lack of time, managed to get ready for action.
“I would say that the US Open was more of a last-minute decision. I only decided to go through with only a couple of weeks before,” said Eala when she recalled her life-changing decision to pick up a racquet and go with it.
Eventually, Eala, guided by French coach Adrien Alexis Vaseux at the Rafa Nadal Academy, pulled through and reached the finals for her historic title girls’ singles win.
“Once I found out, I set my heart to it. And that was my goal, to win the US Open,” added Eala when she looked back at her experience while in talks with her uncle, Philippine Sports Commission chairman Noli Eala on his weekly TV program, “Power and Play.”
Eala claimed the crown with an upset of no. 2 seed Lucie Havlickova of the Czech Republic,6 -2, 6-4.
She believes that the singles’ crown came at the right time for her.
Last year, she managed to make it as far as the semis of the US Open girls’ doubles.
She now has three Grand Slam trophies, with the first one coming from the 2020 Australian Open, and the second in the 2021 French Open.