ALEXANDRA Eala, currently No. 47 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, has become an icon. She is, to every Filipino, the epitome of grit, determination and indomitable spirit not only in sports, but also in life’s mightier struggles. Adored by her compatriots and respected by her opponents, Eala has drawn the admiration of tennis aficionados. They were not used to seeing such skill in a professional tennis player of her age from a region they seldom heard of.
Eala’s “never say die” attitude inside the court is legendary as she refuses to surrender, no matter the odds against her. She is undaunted, not even by more experienced opponents. Her focus is on winning: not only for herself, but also for her countrymen.
This explains her unrelenting campaign to win in every match she plays. In the Dubai Tennis Championships, for instance, the past week was nothing short of euphoric: a winning streak that brought her to the quarterfinals! She might have bowed down to No. 4 and acclaimed two-time Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff, but it was, in all respects, remarkable and historic! After all, Eala defeated then-No. 5 Madison Keys and No. 2 Iga Swiatek at last year’s Miami Open.
Her meteoric rise on the world stage of tennis has been phenomenal! A feat never before achieved by any Asian. And there’s no stopping her as she was said to be listed in the 2026 Miami Open.
Loved, adored
Eala is loved for bringing so much honor to her country and hope to her countrymen. But she is adored for relating her challenges to that of her compatriots. She once said that, in competing with her country and the expectations of its people in mind, she feels the pangs of pressure, so to speak. But, she added, that is “nothing compared to the pressure that regular, everyday Filipinos have to face providing for their families.”
Indeed, her country — our country — which is blessed with vast resources, is mired in poverty and the people were failed by its leaders.
While she aspires to be better in every game she plays, her country’s politicians play with the future of her people like a game. Instead of serving the people, many elected officials betrayed the public’s trust and robbed government coffers.
Ask not what government can do for you
Former United States president John F. Kennedy once said in his inaugural address in January 1961: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” That was taken to heart by Filipinos Michael and Rizza Eala, Alexandra’s parents.
The Alexandra Eala the tennis world now knows did not benefit from any government sports program, but from the personal sacrifices of her parents. It was reported that her mother was forced to resort to loans. Her father had to suffer 16-hour workdays as a waiter and set aside his personal needs just to finance his daughter’s passion for tennis. They supported Alexandra, then 13, when she decided to move to Spain to train at the Rafa Nadal Academy. What the government has done so far was for the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to falsely claim it had spent ₱4.5 million for Alexandra’s training and travels. What they got from the PSC, Alexandra’s parents said, was a “runaround.”
Are we going to ask: “And so, fellow Filipinos: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”?
Working-class people work hard to pay their income taxes. Commercial entities aspire to do good business so they could pay their corporate taxes and other government levies and impositions. Athletes and artists bring honor to our country. Overseas Filipino workers work double time to help keep our economy afloat through their dollar remittances. But what do they get in return?
It has become less of a social contact where citizens perform their obligations and government renders services in return. Government employees who were paid by taxpayers’ money have become less like public servants and more like masters.
We have the likes of the Oil Industry Management Bureau of the Department of Energy that acts more of the mouthpiece of oil companies, announcing the price of fuel products in the coming week.
We have the likes of the Department of Finance that depletes, rather than augments, the funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. by ₱60 million by ordering its transfer to state coffers to fund flood-control projects. That increased, rather than mitigated, the risk to depositors when it decreed the transfer of ₱107.23 billion from the Philippine Deposits Insurance Corp. to the National Treasury. That ordered the imposition of a standardized 20-percent final withholding tax on interest income earned from bank deposits.
If Filipinos rooted wildly for Alexandra Eala, do not fault them.
One Rod Valleza, who wrote about Filipinos cheering for Alexandra as a “wasted breath” and called the manner with which they showed their support an “amateur Pinoy style of fandom,” should understand us Filipinos. Eala’s winning is the Filipinos’ way of keeping their sanity. She is their well of inspiration. That somehow, despite the odds, in spite of lack of government support or services, one may still succeed. One would just have to persevere. To believe in oneself and trust that God rewards those who toil.
Postscript
Crow’s Nest renders its proud salute to all alumni of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) who attended its Annual Alumni Homecoming on Feb. 21, 2026. Among them are members of the PMA “Bigkis-Lahi” Class of 1990, whom I incompletely described as the first post-EDSA I graduates. They are described as such, for they were the first batch of cadets who were recruited and reported to the PMA on April 1, 1986 and graduated on Feb. 18, 1990.