Filipino fans will have the time of their lives when the country’s rising star Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala joins tennis icon and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in the upcoming doubles matches at the Bad Homburg in Germany.
Actually, the Philippinesk pride, now 21, is quite excited and looking forward to teaming up with a legend like Williams, who reigned as world’s number one for 11 weeks in 2002.
“I am really, really excited,” Eala expressed on learning she would be playing alongside the 45-year-old American in doubles in this year’s Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500 tournament in Homburg.
“Venus is such a trailblazer and continues to do so much and has done so much for the sport,” she continued.
“I like to say that women’s tennis has been a trailblazer for women’s sports and she is a big part of why that is,” she added.
Williams is a former world No. 1 in doubles as well, having won 22 doubles titles in her career.
On the other hand, Eala’s current doubles standing is at 116 (as of May 25, 2026), but she has enthused that she “enjoys” playing doubles, though her most recent foray in the competition ended in a first-round exi, along with Nikola Bartunkova in the Birmingham Open.
“Of course, with Nikola, who’s such a nice person and a great player. We had a very tight match yesterday and I really do wish that we could have gone a bit further,” she recalled.
“And yeah, I’m happy. I’m happy with our performance,” she quickly blurted out.
In the meantime, though, Eala is focusing on the singles draw of the Birmingham Open, where she has reached the second round after a comprehensive 6-0, 6-2 win over Priscilla Hon of Australia on Tuesday afternoon.
As the No. 1 seed in the tournament, she will be playing in her opening match against the winner of the face off between Germany’s Greet Minnen and Russia’s Alina Charaeva.B