MANILA, Philippines — They say "you win some and you lose some," but Alex Eala will always guaranteed one thing: a stadium packed with Filipinos cheering for her.
As she kicked off her Sunshine Swing, the Filipino community in California showed up in force to support the young star.
Eala will begin her 2026 Indian Wells campaign on Saturday, 11 a.m. (Manila time) against Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, and while just training on the court, Filipinos flocked to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, showing their support.
“I’ve only dreamed of making tennis grow in the Philippines, and now I’m bringing a whole new audience to tennis all around the world,” Eala said in a video posted by Paribas Open on Instagram.
“The Filipinos, we have such a strong sense of community. And I feel like when one of us does well, or one of us is succeeding, we all have that shared sense of pride,” she added.
A Filipino fan said that Eala created a culture for Filipinos.
“When Eala plays, we all get together, and we all watch to support her as a group of people. We plan our dinners around that,” he shared on the video.
In Eala’s debut in the 2026 Australian Open, the tournament faced ticketing woes and organizing issues as the court was overwhelmed by hundreds of Filipino fans.
Even tennis great and men’s world No. 3 Novak Djokovic noticed the effect of Eala in the Australian Open.
“Having too much crowd in any tournaments is a good problem to have, there’s much problem to have. Every tournament wants record-breaking attendance and ticket sales, I have been hearing in the past couple of years in most of the slams and tournaments,” he said.
In her stint in the Dubai Open, women’s world No. 4 Coco Gauff could not help but acknowledge the crowd that Eala drew.
She said that even though the audience was not cheering for her, she appreciated a jam-packed atmosphere.