If the broadcasters of tennis were hoping for a success of tears streaming down the face of teenager Alexandra Eala after she pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the WTA season, they were left with the opposite.
Yet, that last point when she broke world no 2 Iga Swiatek for the eighth time told us much more about the Filipina tennis player than any tears would.
It all hit Eala as she was doing a post-match interview after which she quivered and was on the verge of tears as she started to touch upon the enormity of her feat that thrust her into the semi-finals of the Miami Open but quickly composed herself, letting out short-lived celebratory squeals then moving on to her post-match chores with all the calmness of a well-practiced veteran.
“I think that’s part of why it is hard to know what just happened, because I was so present. I also didn’t realise that I had beaten a five-time grand slam winner,’ she said, asked about her immediate thoughts after the match.
I controlled myself, tried to daydream as much as possible since that had never happened before me and that’s why I was looking at the screen. I wanted to remember that instance in my head,” she continued.
The Filipina tennis player showed composure, poise and skill beyond her WTA Tour experience to prove that she was remarkably prepared for such a huge moment in her career.
Sure I have a lot less experience on the WTA Tour, but compartmentalising is something I have experience in. I am used to professionalism,” she stated.
When asked what part of her personality she brings to the court, she said: “No doubt about it, because I’m in a professional environment.
Sure the Filipina tennis player has been at a pro level since 13 but that’s when she left her motherland for the Rafa Nadal academy in Mallorca.
As a high-level junior for the past six years, she has breathed tennis with first-rate coaches and a pack of players who all aspire to make it onto the tour.
But she said her rather business-like method was achieved less from the everyday regime in Spain than from property.
“It’s not something you learn at the academy, it’s just, you know. That’s something I’ve learned, I guess, from my experience of the things I have been through that have brought me to this moment. That’s something my family has taught me, is part of our family values,” she said.
“These are business people that have accomplished their goals, and are successful within their own respective categories, people I would consider a mentor. That’s how they role model, I reckon.
Those two forces in her life were apparent in her box — her parents flew in from the Philippines for the match and so did one of her Seattle-based uncles and a cousin. However, representing the academy at the table, was Spanish great’s uncle and former coach, Toni Nadal.
I feel like people are going to be chanting my name today so extra motivation going in to my match today. I did really want my family to watch me win but they would be just as satisfied to see me out there competing.
“And Toni also came to Miami. That meant a lot too, because I’ve worked with him for so long with the main coaches I have from the academy. It said a lot for the confidence and the pride the academy has in me,” she said.
The Filipina tennis player used some of that time to look back on a two-year-old picture when she met Swiatek at a tennis graduation affair at the academy and that she hoped young kids back home would be motivated by her victory to play the sport.
Over the years there have been a number of teenagers busting onto the WTA at the elite level with earnest fanfare. Some have thrived, others have faded away almost immediately, but few could have arrived with such a mature swagger as the 19-year-old Filipino from Quezon City.