Alex Eala not taking for granted the love and support from fans

Alexandra Eala, of the Philippines, reacts during her match against Mary Stoiana, of the United States, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

There has been a lot of discussion about Alex Eala online—and the talk about her has been so polarizing.

Amid the love and adoration she has been getting, there have been questions, too, about why she gets all the attention, the big courts and a lot more perks than the many-time Grand Slam champions on the women’s tour.

The postmatch conference after she disposed of Mary Stoiana in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, in her first match at the US Open in Flushing Meadows, New York, provided a clue—the same one that has marked her interactions with sports journalists.

A lot of the questions she was asked were about Alex Eala the person.

“I’m constantly trying to be a better person, a more intelligent, more aware person,” she said on Wednesday (Manila time) after her victory.

“And yeah, [I’m trying to] be the best version of myself,” added the Filipino star when asked about being an idol for a lot of young girls. “And I don’t think my tennis would be as good as it is now if I wasn’t the person that I am off the court and I wasn’t as open-minded or, you know, eager to learn. So I think those two go hand in hand.”

Sure, Eala fielded questions about her tennis. Early on, she discussed her service game against Stoiana.

“[L]ike I’ve been saying, the serve is just a constant effort … it’s constant work and trying to improve,” she said about the one facet of her game that always comes under intense scrutiny. “I’m always trying to improve something. So I’m happy with how I served today. Hopefully, hopefully we’re going up or maintaining the level in the next couple of matches.”

She also talked briefly about her next opponent, Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine, who beat her on clay during their first meeting last May in the Strasbourg Open in France.

“There are a lot of things that I could have done better [against her],” the world No. 18 said. “I think I’ve developed a lot in those months. So yeah, all I can do is go into that match with the same mindset as today … or even better than the mindset I’ve been having these past couple of weeks, and try to do my best.”

But even as the tennis talk continued, there was a palpable effort by journalists to peel away the layers of Eala’s mystique in an effort to find what exactly makes her click among her fans and how she handles the rapid rise of her popularity. “I’m still so young, so I have so much to learn when it comes to managing, you know, there’s so much I feel I’m going to experience and so many challenges I’ve yet to encounter,” said the 21-year-old ace. “I don’t know, it feels like just yesterday that I was dreaming to be on [the Louis] Armstrong [Stadium], for example, or dreaming to play against the players that I’ve been playing against.”

“I just think it would be such a shame if I didn’t do my best to enjoy.”

Eala returns to the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center on Thursday for her second match, where she is expected to have another strong crowd support as she did against Stoiana.

And Eala will never get tired of basking in the love she is shown, no matter what opinions people have online.