Last October 13, Julia Wall-Clarke, the WTA Vice President for PR and Communications, emailed me about my column titled “WTA crazy, cruel for excluding Eala in finals.”
She said very kindly that Eala was not eligible for the event as she is not in the top 10 of the WTA rankings. I apologize for the error.
Part of Ms. Julia’s letter read: “The WTA Finals has eight singles places, with each place determined by points earned during the season on the Race leaderboard, rather than the rolling world rankings.”
“The top seven players qualify automatically. The eighth place goes to the highest-ranked current-year Grand Slam singles champion positioned between eighth and 20th in the Race who has not already qualified. If no player meets that criterion, the eighth-ranked player qualifies,” she added.
Perhaps, my being a compatriot of Eala got the better of me when I wrote the column.
Well, how come many Filipinos are going gaga over Eala? Including me, sometimes. A bit of explanation from my side is warranted.
Truth is, I feel very lucky to see in my lifetime the rise of a hardworking and humble Filipina in the sport where prominent figures such as Maria Sharapova, Anna Ivanovic, and the Williams sisters once emerged as the stars.
My comrade-in-pen Raymond Tribdino who is now with The Manila Times told me more than 20 years ago that he wants to witness in his lifetime a Filipino competing in Formula One (F1). I wanted to tell him then that I also longed to see the rise of a Filipino male or female tennis star, or one who would compete at the Grand Slams and win one, and who could slug it out with the top players.
But I kept silent on that, as I felt that a Filipino becoming a Formula 1 driver before would happen first or was more realistic.
It was my “silent wish” that was granted. And I am sure Raymond is also happy with that.
And who knows –Iñigo Anton, the F4 SEA Rookie Champion 2025 – will end up driving for a Formula One team in the next years to come. I wish for that good news sooner or later.
Ms. Julia was also kind enough to also answer some questions that I raised, such as if Eala is disqualified to earning points in the next 52 weeks because she chose to compete in the Asian Games 2026. This turns out to be not true. And thank God.
However, I am concerned that the WTA it is reported to register an operating loss of $26 million this year. I wish somebody tell me this isn’t true.
So, what I also want now is the WTA attains more viable operations, and I am not saying that for the sake of Eala – I am also saying that on behalf of the top players and the future stars that I hope will include a good number of my compatriots.
My utmost respect also goes out to the “winningest” WTA players such as Elena Rybakyna, Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Elina Svitolina, among many others.
I am for women empowerment, and the WTA provides a venue to forward that cause and advocacy.
