And the Filipina tennis rockstar is back home.
Following her breakout campaign in the grand grasses of Wimbledon, Eala on Sunday returned to the Philippines in a hero’s welcome as she’s set for a short stay to meet fans before flying to the United States for the hardcourt swing.
‘Is this really all for me?’ beamed Eala, now dubbed as one of the world’s tennis poster girls, upon her arrival to a packed crowd as posted by the Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) at the packed NAIA Terminal 3.
Eala came from Europe, where she enjoyed a short vacation, including an encounter with Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny at his Stockholm concert in Sweden, via Bangkok on board the Thai Airways after a stellar Round-of-16 run in the Wimbledon earlier this week.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Patrick ‘Pato’ Gregorio, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino and Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) Secretary-General John Rey Tiangco, also Navotas mayor, led the welcoming delegation.
Banda Kawayan Pilipinas was also present, treating Eala with a special performance using their tribal instruments fit for her milestones for Philippine sports and culture.
Eala is in town to hold three fan meet events hosted by her sponsors this week in celebration of her milestones with Filipino fans. She will start a short tour with Nike today before BPI and Globe host their own Eala homecoming parties the next two days.
The 21-year-old Filipina netted a string of firsts for Philippine tennis: the first Filipina seeded player in Grand Slam history (No. 29), the first Filipina match-winner in Wimbledon and also the first to reach the third and fourth rounds of a major respectively.
But Eala made her mark beyond Wimbledon, impressing on the grass surface as a whole after winning her second career title in Birmingham and reaching the Berlin Final Four for an overall record of 12-4.
Her grass run included wins against world No. 3 and reigning champion Iga Swiatek of Poland in Wimbledon as well as World No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and No. 8 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in Berlin for a career total of seven wins versus Top-10 players.
With all of those feats, Eala is projected to reach a new career-best ranking of No. 28 in the WTA update this week after the Wimbledon won by Czechia’s Linda Noskova from No. 32 before the grass Slam. Her previous high was at No. 29 earlier this year.
And she’s out to scale the world rankings even higher when she shifts her swing to the hardcourts of North America leading up to the US Open, the season’s last Grand Slam, from August 30 to September 13 in Flushing Meadows, New York.
Before that, Eala is expected to fine-tune her bearings in the, Cincinnati Open, Toronto Open, National Bank Open in the United States and Canada.
But for now, she’s out to make the most out of her short time at home with her friends, family, relatives and the ever-supportive Pinoy fans, who follow and rally behind her in every city worldwide.