No stopping ‘Eala effect’ even after mixed doubles tumble

Crowd favorites Alex Eala (left) and Felix Auger-Aliassime discuss strategy before the start of a point. —PHOTO BY KEATS LONDON

Alex Eala was looking forward to playing as many doubles matches with Felix Auger-Aliassime in the US Open.

“The US Open is a very electric place to play doubles, and I think mixed doubles especially, with the lineups that there are, is going to be very interesting and a really great opportunity for me,” the 21-year-old Filipino superstar said.

She got the atmosphere, alright. But she’ll have to wait a bit longer until the singles event before experiencing that again.

The husband-and-wife duo of Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils defeated Eala and Auger-Aliassime, 4-1, 4-1, late Tuesday evening (Manila time) in the first round of the mixed doubles event at the Flushing Meadows’ Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.

Monfils and Svitolina needed just 15 minutes to pull ahead by a set before Eala and Auger-Aliassime, fueled by the loud support coming from a predominantly pro-Filipino crowd, showed a lot of fight early in the second set.

But Monfils, who is playing in his final US Open before he retires at the end of the season, and Svitolina pulled away to ice the victory.

The Filipino-Canadian duo was just among the big pairs that crashed out, which included women’s world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic. Men’s star Carlos Alcaraz, who teamed up with Serena Williams, also crashed out.

The early exit now leaves Eala and Auger-Aliassime to focus on the singles event that kicks off over the weekend. And almost everyone expects the “Eala Effect” to pack the courts.

Former US Davis Cup team captain and current tennis broadcaster Patrick McEnroe urged the United States Tennis Association to make sure Eala gets to play at the Flushing Meadows’ biggest courts if only to capitalize on her ability to draw crowds—mostly from Filipino communities—to her matches.

“The USTA better make sure they put her on big courts,” he told ESPN. “In New York, I think the crowd is going to be wild for her. It’s going to be a great story. Better make sure they don’t put her on one of those side courts early in the tournament.”

The Australian Open, the other hardcourt Grand Slam, came under some fire earlier in the year after failing to recognize Eala’s popularity and slotting her opening match against Alycia Parks on a smaller court.

Queens has a strong Filipino community, and part of it, particularly Woodside, which is about five kilometers away from the Flushing Meadows, is known as Little Manila. Aside from being home to many immigrants from the Philippines, Woodside also has numerous Filipino businesses such as restaurants and commercial centers.

“Filipinos come from everywhere, not just the Flushing, New York area,” Keats London, a Filipino photographer based in New Jersey, told the Inquirer. London has been covering Eala’s New York matches ever since the world No. 18 began competing at the US Open.

“Last year, I spoke to an OFW who came all the way from Hong Kong. She spent her hard-earned money to fly to New York and watch Alex play. She did not regret having spent the money even though Alex lost her match that day,” recounted London, who brought his daughter Eula to the Flushing Meadows to enjoy “Fan Week” at the Open.

“I look forward to this event every year,” he added. “I find that the Filipinos that I talked to are very receptive and quite proud seeing a pure, Philippine-born and raised athlete like Alex rise to the occasion, particularly with Alex starting from the junior girls [division] and even winning the junior girls crown a few years ago.”

—INQUIRER SPORTS DESK INQ

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