Born Alexandra Maniego Eala, Alex Eala is a Filipina tennis player who is currently making waves in the sport. She started her career in 2018 and by 2020, she was ranked No. 2 in the Junior ITF ranking. Eala turned pro in the same year before going to record her highest ITF professional ranking of No. 280 in August 2020.
Considered to be one of the future greats, the young Filipina has already won 2 ITF singles titles and over $55 thousand in prize money as of September 2022. Here is all to know about her:
Interesting Details To Know About Alex Eala
1. She was born and raised in the Philippines
Alex Eala was born Alexandra Maniego Eala on 23 May 2005 in the Quezon City of the Philippines. It was also here that she was brought up by her father, Mike Eala (Michael Francis Eala), and her mother, Rizza Maniego-Eala alongside her brother, Miko Eala.
2. Her brother also plays tennis
While she may be the one who is famous for the sport, Alex’s older brother, Miko is also a star in his own rights. He is currently 22 years old and he plays Tennis for Penn State University.
With a career-high singles ranking of No. 1475, he made his pro debut in 2022 at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Men’s World Tennis Tour in Vietnam.
3. Alexandra Maniego Eala is from an athletic family
Alex Eala may be the one who is now getting all the attention, but she is not the first member of her family who is an athlete. Apart from her brother who as stated, is a tennis player, her mother is a former professional swimmer who clinched a bronze medal at the Southeast Asian Games in 1985 in the 100-meter backstroke.
Her uncle, Noli Eala is also into sprots but in another way entirely. He is a former commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association.
See Also: Ajla Tomljanović: 10 Facts To Know About The Tennis Player
4. Alex Eala began playing tennis at a very early age and has already made some important achievments
Alex has come a long way as a tennis player. According to her, she strted playing when she was only 4 years old, and could not remember a time when she wanted doing anything else. The early start of the Filipina star was thanks to the suupport of her parents and grandfather.
Accordning to her father, he has always tried not to come between her and her coach, a mistake he believes most parents are in the habit of making. That, however, does not stop Mike and his other family members from traveling round the world to support his daughter when she is playing.
By the time she was 12, she became a student of the Rafa Nadal Academy in spain. That was also the year that she clinched the Les Petit As 14-and-under tournament. The next year, 2019, the tennis prodigy took part in the US Open, marking her junior Grand Slam open.
She woul go on to pair with Indonesian Priska Madelyn Nugroho with whom she clinched the 2020 Australian girl’s double before reaching the semis of the 2020 French Open girl’s single competition. These saw her reaching her best rank of No. 2.
In 2022, she got to reach the US Open Juniors finals after defeating Lucie Havlickova.
5. Alex has represented her country in Tennis
6. Prize money and net worth of Alex Eala
7. Alex Eala is a tall lady
As regards her physical features, the young tennis player has a very good height of 5 feet 9 inches. This places her on the same height with arguably the greatest tennis player ever, Serena Williams. It also places her slightly shorter than Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azeranka who are both 5 feet 11.
Also, she is a left-handed player just as other greats such as Petra Kvitová, Markéta Vondroušová, and Martina Navratilova.
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