Put simply, Eala is a monumental star in the south-east Asian country – a nation which has limited pedigree on the tennis circuit. <\/p>\n
Her surprising win over six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek at last year’s Miami Open ensured Eala’s life will never be the same again.<\/p>\n
“This week there were elements that were a bit overwhelming, especially during my practices,” Eala said.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t expect that many people to be there. It’s a learning process. I’m just trying to take it in.”<\/p>\n
Eala, a product of Rafael Nadal’s academy in Mallorca, has long been seen as a trailblazer after becoming the first Filipina to win a WTA Tour match in 2021.<\/p>\n
In 2022, she became the first to win a junior Grand Slam title with her US Open triumph, leading to the then-teenager gracing the cover of Vogue back home.<\/p>\n
Veteran boxer Manny Pacquiao may still be the nation’s most famous sporting star, but Eala’s exploits mean she is the sporting symbol of the next generation.<\/p>\n
“She always carries the flag and the country proudly – that’s something which resonates with everyone,” Imee Vee, a Filipina who travelled from Sydney specifically to watch Eala, said.<\/p>\n
“She’s becoming a national hero. Everyone is starting to stop what they’re doing and tune in to watch her matches. She dominates the sports news, too.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Put simply, Eala is a monumental star in the south-east Asian country – a nation which has limited…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-380195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}