By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday April 14, 2025
We noticed how great the assist of Filipino followers could be for a participant of that nation when Alexandra Eala stormed to the semifinals of the Miami Open and was vehemently backed up by a large number of followers, each on web site and nearly from around the globe.
It was unimaginable to see a brand new star embraced by the tennis group in such a manner.
Final week, in a digital press convention organized by BPI and Globe, Eala talked concerning the one tough factor about enjoying for her nation: the challenges of visa procurement along with her Philippine passport.
“What’s difficult is with the ability to journey with flexibility,” Eala stated final week. “As a tennis participant, it’s essential be very versatile along with your schedule. You are going to make a number of last-minute decisions, and it does not enable you time to prepare all of this—each single time—to have the visas prepared.”
One can solely think about the difficulties. Not with the ability to decide to enter a draw on a second’s discover can actually put the kibosh on a participant. And coping with daunting paperwork isn’t enjoyable.
In line with GQ, the Philippine passport ranks seventy fifth within the Henley Passport Index, permitting visa-free or visa-on-arrival journey to solely 69 nations and territories.
To not fear. Eala loves enjoying for her flag, whatever the problems.
“After all, it’s the assist of the Pinoys,” she says. “You can’t discover that form of group wherever else, in my view. The love and the assist, you understand, this previous month is a testomony to that.”
The present World No.72 can be again in motion this week on the 125K occasion in Oeiras, Portugal, the place she is the highest seed. Eala, 19, will face Anouk Koevermans of the Netherlands in her first-round match.
She’ll subsequent play the Madrid Open, which takes place from 22 April to 4 Could.
Alexandra Eala battling the rain and making her clay-court debut this season on the Oeiras Open WTA 125, two weeks after cracking the highest 100 with the semi-finals in Miami.A lot of assist from Filipinos — together with the Ambassador to Portugal, Paul Raymund Corte. pic.twitter.com/wgN5Y3s2J6
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) April 14, 2025
