Despite a ropey time on the WTA Tour’s Asian swing as of late, Alex Eala has enjoyed several monumental moments across her 2026 season.
The Filipina star has made her top 20 debut, won her first WTA title, and reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career in 2026.
She’s picked up seven victories against top 10 players this year, including against Jessica Pegula, Elina Svitolina, Iga Swiatek, and Elena Rybakina.
As a result, there is plenty of pressure for Eala to continue to make progress on the WTA Tour in 2027, and Greg Rusedski has tipped the star to soar next year.
More Alex Eala news
Speaking on Off Court with Greg, Eala said: “Once she gets that serve into play and starts holding more often, you know, then she gets even more consistent results. You don’t fluke the title the way she did in Washington. That was beating world class players week in week out.
Her runs at Wimbledon, you know, she’s creating history. Her run at the US Open again, she loses to [Diana] Shnaider, who beat [Iva] Jovic as well and is going deep in the tournament. So that’s not a bad loss to lose to somebody who’s made the semis of the French this year.
“So on paper, yeah, you’re going to have a little bumps in the road, but 2027, I think, is going to be a big year for the Filipina because I think she’s just going to get better and she’s going to improve and she’s going to use that aspect.
“If her serve can go up 20%, she’s knocking on the door in the top 10. And for me, she is the number one selling point for the WTA Tour. She’s not two or three, she’s number one.”
Rusedski understands the pressure that has been put on Eala, particularly by the media, but he believes she deals with everything that comes with her tremendously well.
“You look you talk about our programme, you talk about everybody else’s social media, everybody wants a bit of her and she’s great for the game. And also, she gets that balance right.”
The British star believes Eala deals with the pressure in a similar way to how Maria Sharapova did, who collected five Grand Slam titles in her career.
“She reminds me a little bit of Maria Sharapova,” explained Sharapova would do all the social media stuff, all the corporates, all the sponsors, but the number one priority was tennis. And that’s what Eala seems to have.
“And if she can continue on that path, she’ll get out of it what she wants to get. and she needs to continue to improve in that area of serve. If she can get that serve up to where it needs to be, the sky’s is the limit.”
Eala will begin her 2027 campaign at the ASB Classic before appearing at the Australian Open, where she will be seeded for the first time in her career.
