TENNIS great Maria Sharapova expressed excitement over the future of Filipino tennis sensation Alex Eala.
The 36-time champion from Russia said she roots for Eala as well as Gauff.
"I'm always rooting for Coco Gauff, Alex Eala, who's had an incredible summer and I'm so excited about her future. Those two have come to mind," said Sharapova in an interview with Popsugar.
This isn't the first time the 5-time Grand Slam champ said something positive about Eala who idolizes her.
After the Filipino netter's historic third-round win over defending champ Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon last July, Sharapova called Eala a "star" in the comments section of a Wimbledon post.
The 39-year-old Sharapova and the 21-year-old Eala didn't have a chance to meet on the WTA Tour as the former retired in February 2020 while the latter started her pro career the following month in the ITF circuit.
As Sharapova noted, Eala indeed has had a great North American swing, especially after winning her first WTA title at the 500 Mubadala D.C. Open in Washington last August.
Eala also achieved a career-high rank No. 18 on Aug. 24, becoming the highest-ranked Southeast Asian female player of all-time.
The lefty player eclipsed former Southeast Asian stars in Indonesian Yayuk Basuki and Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn who both peaked at No. 19.
Basuki reached No. 19 in October 1997 while Tanasugarn matched it in May 2002.
Eala last saw action at the US Open where she exited in the third round with a 5-7, 6-3, 5-7 loss to Iva Jovic on Sept. 6.
She will next compete at the 500-tier Singapore Open from Sept. 21-27 before taking her act to the Asian Games which will run from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3 in Nagoya, Japan.
Determined to play for the country, Eala will skip the WTA 1000 China Open for the Asian Games where she is a favorite to win the gold medal.
Skipping mandatory 1000 tournaments like China without a WTA exemption — usually granted for players dealing with injuries or personal matters — will result in a zero-point penalty for 52 weeks and a fine reportedly of $10,000 or P626,000.
Eala will unlikely get that WTA exemption as fellow Southeast Asian player Janice Tjen was denied for her similar request.
