After tennis star Alex Eala's impressive back-to-back achievements at the 2025 Miami Open, many are eager to know how she developed such extraordinary skills in the sport. Eala's Les Petits As victory at 12 years old earned her a Rafa Nadal Academy scholarship.

The trailblazing, though, might be the easiest thing for Eala to deal with. She’s been breaking ground for tennis players from her country — an archipelago of 7,641 islands and more than 110 million people — for a while now.

Tennis icon Rafael Nadal only had encouraging words for Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala after the latter pulled off an upset against Iga Swiatek in the Miami Open.