BENCHMARK
By Tracy Cabrera
Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better and your better is best.
— Saint Jerome of Stridon, also known as Hieronymus
This year, Alex Eala enjoyed the best season of her career, something which has been significant for her ranking in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) world’s top players. She began her 2026 season ranked outside the top 50, having had a major breakthrough last year which enabled her to become a top 100 player—from 155th.And the 21-year-old has taken her play to another level this year, winning THE Mubadala DC Open (Washington Open), as well as reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon and the final of the Prudential Hong Kong Open.Her sterling performance has enabled Alex to end the year as the world’s number 15, which is a career-high ranking. But despite these, she has been predicted to drop down the rankings in 2027.According to American ace Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, as well as former world number one Tracy Austin and former Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins, Eala would drop in the rankings next year unless she is able to make significant improvements to her serve.Gilbert opined: “I feel like she is closer to going backwards than she is moving into the top 10. The big shot for her, without a doubt, is that she does not have much leftiness whatsoever and no pace on her serve.” He continued: “She is so physically demanding the way that she plays, because she hits so many 73mph first serves that literally she just starts the point and by the end of the tournament she is taped up like a mummy.” And we agree. We’re convinced she has to improve the serve.If Alex can incorporate again a little leftiness and goes back to Mallorca in Spain’s Balearics to train at it in the Rafa Nadal academy, maybe she could watch a few Rafa highlights of how ‘The Spaniard’ got it out there and get her serve plus one to improve.If the country’s pride does that, we believe she can be a top 10 player. However, if she does not improve her serve this off season, we would say that her performance would suffer and her ranking would go backwards the following year.
* * *YOUR comments and suggestions are most welcome, please message me through my email at cipcab2006@yahoo.com or text me at cellphone numbers 09171656792 or 09171592256. Thank you for your support and mabuhay!
