I strongly believe Alex Eala is the second or third most impressive female tennis player at this point for this year.
My bet for the No. 1 spot is Elena Rybakina for winning the Australian Open and Stuttgart Open, and remaining competitive at this point.
And my bet for No. 2 is Iga Swiatek, the newly-crowned Toronto Open champion.
Many will contend that Eala should be at second place, because she beat Swiatek at Wimbledon and Rybakina at Berlin.
Nonetheless, I placed Eala at the top 3 at this point, because she beat other top-notch: Q. Zheng, Leylah Fernandez, Elina Svitolina, Naomi Osaka, and Jessica Pegula.
At Wimbledon, she stole the limelight from eventual champion Linda Noskova, by beating defending champion Swiatek in their third meeting, upping her score against the top-notch Polish player at 2-1. And she now holds a 2- 0 lead over Svitolina.
Okay, Eala had some quite early exits, but so as Noskova, Mira Andreeva, among others, while world No. 1 Aryna
Sabalenka has been denied the chance to figure in championship bouts.
Coco Gauff is still without a championship so far.
And while there are “young guns” making their presence felt, such as Alina Korneeva and Kristina Luitova, they never experienced the grueling pace Eala had to go through. Luitova has logged 37 matches this year, while Korneeva has figured in 45 matches. And don’t tell me much of their opponents can be considered top-notch.
Eala has figured in 53 single matches so far, among the highest in the field.
At Toronto, Caty Mcnally proved to be a very tough opponent. Well, what else can you expect from a player who beat Noskova in two sets? And Alicia Parks had a serve that terrified.
While Belinda Bencic also beat top-notch players this year – including Swiatek and Coco Gauff – she has yet to win a title this year.
Bencic also has a total of 32 single matches this year – so Eala had 21 more single matches this year.
I can tell you one thing – burn out is a reality top-notch players have to deal with. And Eala is no exception.
Compared to Eala, Bencic never faced the same level of opposition prior to Toronto. So, can we say that Bencic almost had a walk in the park heading to her bout with Eala? But make no mistake – I also admire Bencic because at 29 years old and currently a mother, she is still competitive.
And let us be more patient toward Eala because at 21, she already has achieved so much for a tennis player who came from a country with an ecosystem for the sport that is very third world.
Now, I am sure there will be those who will clamor that Eala should be at No. 1 because she beat Rybakina. I should disagree with that as Rybakina now has three titles this year, including the Australian Open.
As for those who insist that Eala is the second-best female tennis player now and not Swiatek and because she beat Swiatek, let us be reminded that the Polish player is in the top 5 WTA rankings and Eala is not.
We should also be happy that at this point, if you agree with me, that Eala is the third most impressive female tennis player globally.
Anybody is free to disagree.
