Friendly fire
Alex Eala is at the point in her career where the process matters as much as the results.
The 21-year-old star has often said she doesn’t set hard yearend targets at this point, preferring to measure how she has improved from tournament to tournament.
That is how she views her latest US Open stint.
“I think experience is definitely helpful,” she told reporters after her second-round 6-1, 6-4 victory over Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine. “I do feel like [I’m] a more well-rounded player now and more mature. I guess with time comes maturity and [becoming] more intelligent.”
“I think I just have more knowledge with the experience in terms of tennis and competing at the very high level and knowledge of what I’m capable of and much more belief in myself.”
But the large Filipino community in Queens, New York, that lives near the US Open venue in Flushing Meadows will certainly be counting results, as they keep shelling out big bucks to catch Eala in the flesh—even if she is just doing practice sets.
Eala is scheduled to battle Iva Jovic next, a third-round match whose exact first serve is yet to be determined at press time. Eala and Jovic are close friends and are part of a close-knit group of young rising stars on the WTA Tour. The more pressing piece of trivia to tennis fans, however, is that the 18-year-old Jovic is 2-0 against Eala so far.
“Yeah, I’m super excited [to face Eala],” Jovic said after her 6-4, 6-4 win over Briton Francesca Jones in Thursday’s second round. “The atmosphere is gonna be amazing, and she’s been playing some great tennis.”
Eala said she has learned to manage her emotions and mental approach to games that involve her close friends. What she is focusing more on is the fact that some of her friends pose a stern test as she bids to make a deep run at the US Open.
“I’ve encountered my fair share of challenges against her this year,” the world No. 17 said. “But yeah, I mean it’s not under my control who I play, and all I can do is, you know, give my best and try to do everything that I can to win.”
Jovic is looking to surpass her best career Grand Slam showing—a quarterfinal run at the Australian Open this year. She shot to prominence with her maiden WTA title at Guadalajara last year at the age of 17 and arrived at Flushing Meadows at a career-high ranking of 14 in the world.
Eala, on the other hand, has been on a tear the last couple of months. She beat defending champion Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon and went through a very tough draw to win her first WTA title in Washington. Both of Jovic’s victories over Eala came before that breakthrough title—in the first round at Roland Garros this year and in the round of 16 at Queen’s Club in London.
“She’s an amazing player,” Eala said of Jovic. “Young, very talented and very intelligent, of course. She’s a high-ranked player and very, very accomplished.”
Whatever happens in that match, trust that Eala will be looking more at how she played than on the eventual result. But for the Filipino community that has waited a year to see her back, a positive result would even be more meaningful. —WITH A REPORT FROM AFP
