Alexandra Eala has enjoyed many big moments in her breakthrough year on the WTA Tour.
Eala is one of the most popular players in tennis right now, which has been shown by the huge amount of support she has had in Australia and the Middle East this year.
This was particularly evident last week, as Eala reached the quarterfinals at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Although this has enabled Eala to reach her career-high ranking, she has actually picked another tournament as the highlight of her career so far.
Alexandra Eala explains why the Miami Open was the highlight of her career so far
Eala has climbed over 100 places in the WTA rankings over the past year, which all started at the Miami Open.
After receiving a wildcard for the 2025 tournament as a relatively unknown player, Eala reached the Miami Open semifinals after beating the likes of Iga Swiatek, Madison Keys and Jelena Ostapenko.
When speaking to the Australian Open’s The Sit-Down show, Eala called her run in Miami the highlight of her career so far.
“I think that has to be the highlight of my career so far,” said Eala. “That is what put me on the map.
“Everything clicked after that and I look back at that moment and just think wow. It was insane. It’s crazy to believe that actually happened.”
Eala will return to where it all started in Miami next month, but this time around she will likely be seeded, as has the pressure of defending 390 ranking points.
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Alexandra Eala names five of her tennis idols growing up
Eala was then asked questions about her tennis journey growing up, including about why she actually got into the sport in the first place.
This is where the Filipina revealed that it was actually her brother who got her into playing tennis.
“I got into tennis because of my brother,” answered Eala. “He is three years older than me and he started playing tennis. So when it came time for me to pick up a sport I think they just threw me in with him and I ended up loving it.”
Eala is heavily connected to Rafael Nadal as she is a graduate from his academy, and she revealed that he is one of five tennis idols she had growing up.
Nadal is the only ATP player in this list, with Eala listing four WTA Grand Slam champions as her other inspirations.
“Obviously Rafa Nadal was a big one,” said Eala. “On the girls side I really looked up to Maria Sharapova and Li Na. And then the others later on were [Simona] Halep and [Ash] Barty.”
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Three of Eala’s idols are former Indian Wells champions, and she will be hoping to channel them at her next tournament.
This will be the first time that Eala has played at Indian Wells, and she is expected to be seeded for the tournament that gets underway on March 4.
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