Alex Eala has emerged as one of the biggest stars in women’s tennis over the last few months, but seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe has suggested one of her key shots is still ‘a liability’.
Eala achieved her best result at a Grand Slam when she reached the last-16 at Wimbledon in July, beating defending champion Iga Swiatek as part of that run.
She backed that up by winning her first WTA Tour title at the Washington Open, with a couple of wins at the US Open highlighting her star power.
Eala’s groundstrokes are now as potent as the top players in the women’s game, but her serve was broken nine times in her third round defeat against Iva Jovic at the US Open.
That is a statistic that inspired McEnroe to suggest Eala needs to improve her serve if she is to take her game to the next level.
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“I’ll start by saying the sky’s the limit for her,” said McEnroe, responding to a question from Tennis365 in his role as a Eurosport and HBO Max analyst at the US Open.
“In tennis you need the full package. You need the movement you need, you know, that’s obviously extremely important in tennis with men and the women.
“Is she a great athlete? Yes, but to be that A-plus, that’s where you get found out if you are not at that level.
“Not everyone’s six one or six feet like (Elena) Rybakina or (Aryna) Sabalenka 5’11. Not everyone is as fast as Coco Gauff. That’s the type of thing that would bring Eala to the next level. of thing like bring her, excuse me, bring her to the next level.”
When we asked McEnroe what area of her game needed to improve most, he didn’t hesitate in his answer as he said: “If she wants to win one of these majors, she’s got to improve the serve. It’s a liability. It’s gotten better, but, you know, there’s more to come.”
Despite that comment, McEnroe was full of praise for Eala, as he suggested the Filipina is backing up the hype around her.
“The Philippines doesn’t have a history of tennis that I’m aware of, so there’s huge interest in Eala,” he added. “She’s as popular as Manny Pacquiao was in his days at the top of boxing and the great thing is, Eala is backing it up.
“You know, she’s just competing so well. It’s just a beautiful thing to watch. So just from the standpoint of a tennis player, to see her, you know, sort of learn how to develop her skills is pretty awesome.
“There’s something about her. There’s like a she uses with personality and competitiveness at the same time, which people gravitate towards.”
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