Kim Clijsters believes there have been precedents that stand Alex Eala in good stead to win a maiden Grand Slam.

The 21-year-old has been a breath of fresh air for the WTA Tour as the left-hander climbs up the rankings, as an army of diehard fans back her to the hilt.

After a steady rise since turning professional in 2020, Eala has exploded into life, particularly in 2026, with an impressive fourth-round Wimbledon run and a first WTA Tour title triumph in Washington.

The Filipina is now 20th in the world, despite many questioning if her serve is good enough to challenge the game’s elite.

Serena Williams’ coach, Rennae Stubbs, initially doubted whether Eala could win a major with her serve, which is well outside the top 50 in terms of effectiveness. The Australian then somewhat rode back on those comments after her win in the American capital.

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The topic about her serve still rages on, with some saying that her lefty delivery makes it harder to return than you would expect, while acknowledging that Eala can improve both the first and second serve for the 2027 campaign.

Now, four-time major winner Clijsters has weighed in on whether Eala and Washington finalist Jessica Pegula, 32, can win a Grand Slam for the first time. Both are not big servers but have a strong ground and return game.

The former world No 1 said on the latest episode of Love All, “I do think they have a chance. Winning a Grand Slam is hard no matter what, whether you have a great first or second serve.

“But Eala and Jessie [Pegula] have such strong weapons when it comes to the return game and because of it they can break an opponent’s serve down.

“Just by being so good and aggressive on the return. And we saw with [Aryna] Sabalenka and [Ekaterina] Alexandrova… those players have bad service games and days too. If you have Sabalenka winning 33% of first service points, of course Eala and Pegula can win a slam if that happens in the final.”

Clijsters continued by saying that you need a bit of “luck” to win a slam and she had played majors where she could have lost earlier in the tournament, before lifting the trophy at the end of it.

The Belgian also said that the likes of Anastasia Myskina, who had a slow serve, and Ana Ivanovic, who had a ball toss that was “out of control” at times, didn’t have great deliveries but still won the French Open in 2004 and 2008, respectively.

Moreover, Angelique Kerber didn’t have the most powerful serve but the left-hander still won three Grand Slams and topped the rankings, too. Clijsters did say that former US Open finalist and world No 3 Pegula is closer to winning a major in 2026 than Eala, though.

She added, “I definitely think someone like an Eala…because of the mindset… Jessie too. She is so strong mentally, the way they are able to move side to side, the groundstrokes that they have. I definitely think they can win [a slam].

“Maybe Eala not as much yet as a Pegula but I think Jessie believes she can win a Grand Slam. I think that is where it starts most of all, you have to believe you can beat every player out there.

“Whether you haven’t done it in a Grand Slam yet or you’ve done it in the smaller tournaments. To beat the top players, the [Elena] Rybakina’s and the Sabalenka’s, that’s super important because every match you play is different.”

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