Alex Eala is breaking the rules on who gets or shares the spotlight in the global tennis scene.
Or should I say that she is also rewriting the rules, without her knowing it?
And this could be history in the making for tennis.
The figures don’t lie. The videos of Eala battling Elena Rybakina and Elina Svitolina have around 900,000 views each over the official WTA YouTube channel. The next highest was between Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula at nearly 440,000 views
Over the official WTA Facebook channel, posts about Eala also got the biggest number of engagements, with the post of her winning and tennis legend Serena Williams winning their first doubles match getting over 50,000 engagements, the highest in over a month.
Anybody who dismisses those facts as not earthshaking are living in the pre-stone age era.
The conventional view is the “winningest” in any sport gets the spotlight, and the highest social media metrics.
Also, when Eala competes, a big number of her matches are at the larger venues. The crowd size she attracts cannot be discounted and also have non-Filipinos watching.
But this is not the first time a sports figure steals the spotlight from the traditional stars. From boxing, it was Oscar Dela Hoya who broke the rules on who gets the spotlight.
More on that later.
Okay, so Eala has yet to win a title beyond the 250 level.
And she had many early exits.
Yet dismissing her as a nobody is very unfair, as beating a number of top 10 and Grand Slam champions, and landing at the semis of the 2025 Miami Open are no small feats. She was also a US Open Junior Grand Slam champion.
So, how come Eala gets more social media engagements than the top female tennis players, and a respectable live audience?
Is it because of her articulate post-match interviews, humble demeanor, or the way she goes wacky off the court?
Or maybe tennis fans also love underdog. But for the underdog to shine more over social media? No way.
Or is it because the bigger tennis stars have “clinical” images?
We also cannot say that Filipinos account for 99 percent of Eala’s social media engagements, because if that was the case, she now would have millions of followers over her official Facebook page, just like Ivana Alawi.
And the Filipina musical group Bini clearly demonstrate that it is a requisite for a person or group to have millions of followers in their “home” social media accounts to generate a high metrics over the other social media channels featuring them.
Furthermore, if patriotic backing was the foundation of high social media metrics, rising stars Coco Gauff and Iva Jovic from the US should have bigger social media numbers than Eala.
And come to think of it – basketball and boxing are the most popular sports in the Philippines. You can add volleyball.
So, I could not fully explain how Eala is breaking or rewriting the rules on who gets or shares the spotlight.
But I could explain how Dela Hoya stole the limelight from the heavyweights during his era, laying the groundwork for other non-heavyweights like Pacquiao, Mayweather Jr., Canelo Alvarez, and Terrence Crawford to outshine the heavyweights.
By default, it is the heavyweights that should get the spotlight in boxing, and earn the biggest.
Dela Hoya, capitalizing on his good looks, gold medal win at the Olympics, initial undefeated winning streak, Mexican heritage, and business acumen, generated over $700 million in pay-per-views (PPVs), making him the top PPV earner in his era.
On the other hand, Mike Tyson generated about $545 million in PPV revenue, and Lennox Lewis at least $250 million. Lewis is considered the top dog of his era.
While it is clear Dela Hoya also capitalized on Mexican fans to build a fanbase, non-Mexicans eventually took notice of him. The same can be happening with Eala with her Filipino fans.
However, Dela Hoya’s record at the championship level was not perfect, having lost to Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley (twice), Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Manny Pacquiao. He is also criticized for facing some “inferior” opponents in title fights.
If social media existed during the era of Dela Hoya, he would surely be the runaway winner in views and engagements.
Love him or hate him, Dela Hoya stole the limelight from the heavyweights, a legacy that endures to this day. That was one gargantuan feat.
And you have to admire Eala on how she is breaking and rewriting the rules on how gets or shares the spotlight in tennis.
This is tennis history in the making.
