Alex Eala admits she had a “wake-up call” moment before the French Open, and while it was tough to hear at the time, it was just what the youngster needed.
Eala started 2026 ranked 50th in the world but has reached as high as 18th. Her first WTA Tour title win in Washington – where she beat the top three seeds Elina Svitolina, Naomi Osaka, and Jessica Pegula along the way – made the tennis world sit up and take notice.
But before that summer breakthrough, including her fourth-round run at Wimbledon where she beat defending champion Iga Swiatek, Eala had some bumps in the road.
In an interview with five-time major winner Maria Sharapova, the Filipina was asked when a coaching team member was brutally honest with her, but it was for the right reasons.
The 21-year-old, whose main coach is Joan Bosch, said there was one match before Roland Garros where a team member took umbrage at one performance. And while it hurt at the time, Eala says the coach was in the right.
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She said on Sharapova’s Pretty Tough podcast, “One match that I had just before Roland Garros, I was a little sick that day, but I mean, that’s beside the point. It was a three-setter. I thought I didn’t play bad, but my coach was not happy with how I played.
“We weren’t aligned on that and it’s happened a couple of times. It happened the week before [the 2025] Miami [Open] in a 75k [event]. And so things like that happen.
“And then I have to take a step back and really just process out my emotions first, because it affects your thinking, especially when you lose. But then you have to realise other aspects in how they think and what their goals are, what the standard is or what your standard should be.
“And so that was that match before Roland was a little wake up call of like, we’re aiming for here, you know?”
While the Asian Games bronze medalist didn’t outright state which match it was before the French Open, it seems she may have been referring to her three set loss to qualifier Oleksandra Oliynykova at Strasbourg in the first round.
Incidentally, Eala admitted her coach was right at the time and even though she questioned it, the left-hander knew more work needed to be done. As she points out, every player works hard, ergo, working hard does not guarantee success.
She added, “I did question it. You need to separate the idea that just because you gave everything you had, doesn’t mean that you performed well. And that’s very frustrating to me as an athlete is that when I give literally everything that I have, mentally, physically, and it just doesn’t come out the way you want to.
“I think in tennis, it’s not always one plus one equals two in terms of you put the hours in, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to win, because everyone else is putting the hours into it like you but it’s not that because you’re going to be fitter.
“And because you’re going to do this, your results are going to get better. I think it’s a really interesting way to see tennis. And it’s something that not many people realize if you’re not in on tour.”
