MANILA, January 16 ------ Filipina tennis star Alex Eala is back in Manila for a brief visit after her short bid in the Australian Open in Melbourne recently. Eala, 18, lost in the first round of the qualifiers to world No. 128 Rebecca Peterson of Sweden, 2-6, 5-7. Despite the setback, Eala is still pleased with her experience. "It was great … It's always one of the more fun Grand Slams," Eala said.
The young star said she took photos of the Rod Laver Center Court, where she hopes to one day play. "It's really nice, especially when there's no people. It's really inspiring, and of course every player wants to experience playing on that court, especially when it's a real match. So I am awaiting that," said Eala.
According to Eala's coach, the Filipina can take away many lessons from her lone match in the qualifiers even if they did not get the result they wanted. "Before the official match, we played a lot of matches there in practice. And in the practice match, we were winning every match. The only loss was in the official match," said coach Dani Rocha Gomez. "As I mentioned, the shots were there, our balls were faster than everybody else, more aggressive.
Eala is now headed to India for her next two tournaments, where Rocha hopes to see her make even greater progress. "I think she's playing much better this year after the preseason," he said. "All the skills, the fitness, she's moving faster, the ball, the technique is also better, so I'm happy." "The only thing she needs is more matches to stop thinking and do the points, but she's doing good. I think she's playing well," he added.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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