With the 2025 season behind her, Alexandra Eala can now take the time to reflect on all she achieved in her breakthrough season.
Defeating three Grand Slam champions, including Iga Swiatek, en route to the semifinals in Miami. Her first career title (and the first title for a Filipina) in Guadalajara. Becoming the first Filipina to break into the Top 100, and then the Top 50, of the PIF WTA Rankings.
“I’m so proud of myself and what I’ve accomplished,” Eala told Vogue Philippines, for whom she did a photoshoot in collaboration with Nike. “I’m [also] proud and grateful [to] the team and all the effort that they’ve put in. I’m just happy that, you know, they see results and that I can share this happiness with them also.”
But as the 20-year-old looks ahead to 2026, there’s so much more she wants to accomplish.
“[I’m] hungry to do even more and to work even harder,” she told Vogue.
Eala finished the season with a sparkling 40-26 record, finishing the year at No. 50 in the rankings after beginning the campaign at No. 147. In addition to her semifinal run in Miami, she won six consecutive matches (including two in qualifying) to reach the final in Eastbourne, where she lost a heartbreaking third-set tiebreak to Maya Joint.
More painful losses will come — that’s just the nature of life on tour, playing against the best in the world week after week — but Eala feels more equipped to handle those losses and persevere, which should serve her well next season. There will be more eyes on her in 2026, and undoubtedly more pressure, but she’s staying focused on herself and her game.
“Tennis is such a beautiful sport because it really keeps you grounded,” she told Vogue. “You lose, you really learn to lose, because you lose almost every week. And that’s what I’ve learned: There’s always going to be someone better than you. And what I try to do is just be the best version of myself.”