Rennae Stubbs believes that Alex Eala is bringing so much excitement and interest to the sport, but some of her fans still need to improve their “tennis etiquette”.
Ever since Eala enjoyed a breakthrough semi-final run at the 2025 Miami Open, her army of supporters back in the Philippines have followed her career with great interest.
That interest has reached a fever point off the back of the 21-year-old’s fourth-round run at Wimbledon and her maiden WTA Tour title triumph in Washington this summer.
Ticket sales went through the roof in Canada as Filipinos flocked to Toronto to see their history-making compatriot in action, and that enthusiasm is only likely to grow.
However, other tennis fans are getting frustrated with some in the pro-Eala crowd shouting out during points. Indeed, Washington runner-up Jessica Pegula was on home soil but ended up getting a lot less support than the left-hander, something she quipped was “not fun to play against”.
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Now, Serena Williams’ coach, Stubbs, has described what it was like watching Eala’s straight-set loss to Belinda Bencic in the round of 16 earlier this week.
She said on the latest episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, “When you know you are playing Alex Eala, you are not just playing a very, very good player. Objectively, I would say 70% of people that are coming to watch her match are going to be fully against you.
“The match the other night. Bencic would play a great point and it was like crickets. And that is very unusual even in Canada, because usually they are very fair and quite supportive of both players and they like to see good tennis.
“I would say 80% of the crowd were for Alex Eala, maybe more. When you go up against a player like that, you have to mentally prepare yourself for the onslaught of fans. [Andrea] Petkovic and the commentators were saying they [Eala fans] don’t really understand the sport of tennis yet, because they are so new to it because of the phenomenon of Alex Eala.
“They are screaming at times in the middle of the point, they are getting very excited. When I went to China for the first time and they hadn’t had tennis there professionally and even at the Olympics [in 2008], they didn’t understand tennis etiquette that much.
“So they would scream out in the middle of the point or say stuff between first and second serves and it was like, ‘Oh my god, they don’t understand the etiquette of tennis’ and I am all for the excitement. There is nothing more exciting than what we are getting every time she walks on the court.”
Stubbs did point out how Caty McNally, who lost in the previous round to Eala, admitted it was a privilege to play in such an atmosphere – one that may have been reminiscent of Serena‘s 2023 US Open bid, where the American looked like she would end her glittering career.
The former world No 1 doubles player felt that Bencic did very well to deal with the partisan crowd, something Pegula couldn’t do in Washington. But far from tearing into Eala’s supporters, Stubbs stated she is such a net positive for tennis.
Stubbs added, “Jessica Pegula checked out in the Washington finals. She was like, ‘I can’t deal with this’. She checked out mentally and Bencic didn’t check out. She hung in there, especially after such a tough match (three set win over Taylor Townsend) the previous one.”
She continued, “Alex Eala is going to bring so many young kids to the sport of tennis and that is only going to make this sport grow even more.”
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