Alex Eala: The tennis star who could be a game-changer for the Philippines

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1:29wasn't to see Novak Djokovic or Igis Fiontek or even the tournament's eventual winners Carlos Alcaraz or Elena Rabakina. Instead, the longest queues were to watch the world number 49 Alexandra Iyala of the Philippines. Her first round match, which she went on to lose, drew thousands of fans to Melbourne Park, with many being left disappointed as they were unable to find a seat on what was one of the smaller courts. More than the score, explore where she came from, how far she could go and what her popularity might mean for the future of tennis. I was joined from the Philippines by sports journalist Kate Reyes from the website spin.ph and from Melbourne by the tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg, editor of Bounces magazine and an ever-present at the Grand Slams and the sport's biggest tournaments.

2:17For Ben, Iyala is the most popular player in tennis right now. He described to me the moment that she made her breakthrough on the global stage. At the Miami Open in spring of last year, Alex Iala was ranked well into the top 100. She only got a wild card into this tournament, which is one of the most prestigious on the women's tour because her management company, IMG, actually owns the Miami Open. And they have been trying to get her star moving. They understand the potential for her to be popular and gave her a chance to play this tournament, even though her ranking did not qualify her for it.

2:48She was one of the last players actually given a wild card from their stable even. It was a fairly borderline decision for them. But once she got the chance at this moment, Iala really seized on it. She beat the reigning Australian Open champion, Madison Keyes, early in that tournament. She had beaten another Grand Slam champion, Lena Ostapenko. And she also beat Iga Svantec in the quarterfinals, all the way going to the semifinals, which is a remarkable result for a player outside the top 100. And even though Ayala is, and Miami actually, I should say, Ayala was not really known before this, and Miami is not, compared to a lot of U.S.

3:18cities, a particular hotbed of the Filipino diaspora, there were already lots and lots of fans at her matches waving flags who come to see her. And this really launched her into superstardom in the Philippines. And she's been covered very closely, very breathlessly, very excitedly ever since this Miami run, all the way peeking through now about 10 months later at this Australian Open. And Ben, you're obviously there in Melbourne covering the Australian Open. What was that atmosphere like around her first round match? Yeah, well, it started well before her first round match, actually, because there was a men's match on the court, court six before her, a relatively unheralded match between two little-known guys, Shevchenko and Emer.

3:55And there were long, long lines waiting to get into this match. People were already eager and desperate to secure a seat at court six. There just wasn't enough. The supply and demand situation for demand for this match among all the fans, mostly Filipino origin, whether they're from around Melbourne area, from elsewhere in Australia, or a lot of whom had traveled all the way from the Philippines itself to be here for this tournament, quickly realized how tight this was going to be. and they were lining up in queues that stretched, you know, maybe more than a kilometer, it seemed like, at times around the grounds.

4:27It was really remarkable, and it really showed how much the Australian Open had misjudged the audience and the excitement and the desire for people to get to see Gala play, because this was really a very mid-sized to small court at the Australian Open facility, probably about seventh or eighth biggest, I would say, among their courts. It's not one of the stadiums even really. It's just a court that has seats on two sides, not all the way around like a lot of the bigger stadium courts do. So this was something where pretty quickly it was clear that thousands of fans who had brought flags, who were waving signs and stuff like that, were not going to be able to go see Alice Ayala.

5:02And were sitting around all the various video screens around the grounds. The organizers at least switched all the video screens to the court's six feed, which they almost never would do. It's almost always showing whoever the biggest star is inside the main Rod Laver Arena. But here it was showing Little Court Six, and there were fans still cheering and very upbeat. I'm sure disappointed not to be inside, but still it was a really nice atmosphere around the grounds, walking around, seeing all these Filipino people who were excited to have this star to cheer for, this hometown hero for them or local hero for them from the Philippines.

5:34And yeah, it was really nice. And even when she lost, it was still, you know, a still positive atmosphere. and there was still a lot of pride that they were at this tournament and seeing her compete in the main draw for the first time. Kate, just how proud is the Philippines of everything that Alex is doing at the moment? A word to describe it, it's a phenomenon in the Philippines. What Alex has done, it's the first time ever that a Filipino has stepped into the slams. So it's really something for us. And we've been waiting for this for decades. It took us decades to get here, to have that icon for the Philippines.

6:11And for a lot, for that tennis scene, Alex may still be small, but for us, it's a big feat already. When was the first time that you, other journalists, the public in the Philippines, just became aware that there was this young girl who had this great talent? Honestly, Alex Ayala already made the headlines back in 2021 or 2022 when she won juniors grand slams she's got two juniors doubles grand slams and one singles also with the interactions she's raking up the numbers not just the tickets also the interactions online and on the pages of various tournaments that she's trying to join in ben as well we have to say that this is somebody who went away at the age of 14 to mallorca to rafa nadal's academy i know lots of young people make that kind of a commitment but it doesn't make it any the less impressive that they do that and alex as a young teenager far from home pursuing her hopes her dreams to become a professional tennis player absolutely yeah she'd already shown a lot of promise at a very young age she was just 12 years old and she won let it eat us which is a you know a tournament in france for that age group where already there's lots of agents from all the big uh management companies in tennis and sponsors are already there and certainly some of the academies are already there and winning that title when she was 12 obviously attracted the attention of the Nadal Academy which was sort of just starting and had just only been a few years old at this point and she went there yeah and she became one of their their most successful so far pupils at this point coming out of Nadal stable training there obviously a lot of coaches with a lot of connection to success in pro tennis with their proximity to Nadal himself and to his sort of managed his ethos of hard work that he exuded throughout his entire career.

8:01So it's a really strong thing there. But I think that one of the things that I've heard from people in the Philippines is that unlike some players from various countries who go abroad, whether it's somewhere in Europe or off to Florida, where there's a big hotbed of tennis academies, Iala really kept very sort of strong connections to the Philippines culturally. I've heard several people from the Philippines remark about her accent staying very traditionally Filipino sounding. It doesn't sound like americanized like a lot of people who leave the philippines or even some who stay in the philippines do with their english uh she has this real sort of authentic filipinaness that i think really makes her i think even even stronger more resonant uh national symbol and national hero for the country i think that is a big thing isn't it because tennis is a is virtually a year-round circuit a lot of people if you like do get the edges knocked off their cultural uh certainly the outward trappings of their cultural identity because they're planes and playing or academies here or academies there, but to be that true symbol of your country and to have this incredible talent.

9:00Kate, give us a sense of what happens back in the Philippines when Alex is playing. What is national television doing? Are people able to watch? Are people able to follow along? Because I'm guessing that before Alex, there haven't been too many times that the Philippines has been a country fully focused on international tennis. Honestly, it's only at the time of Alex. We have a couple of tennis players that have graced the C Games, the regionals and the Southeast Asian Games, the Asian Games. But no one reached as far as Alex did. And the first time we've heard of her is when she was playing in the juniors and she's already world number 14 at that time.

9:41world number 14 and she's only 13 years old she's got a couple of little tournaments and we've also heard of that time when she got the scholarship to the rafa nadal academy in spain and also i just want to add to what you guys were talking about earlier i'd say the proper word to put it is alex is homegrown that's why the filipinos love her she isn't raised from anywhere else in the world She's from the Philippines and she was discovered in the Philippines. She was training in the Philippines. She's got her classmates back in elementary and a few years in high school in the Philippines. So she's like one of us.

10:23So she's not sourced from anywhere else where they're looking for foreigners with Filipino blood. She's not like that. She's a homegrown player in the eyes of Filipinos. That's why everyone loves her. Given that there's not a huge background of tennis in the Philippines, it's quite remarkable, isn't it, that this young girl found that she had a talent in the first place and then was spotted and that talent was nurtured? That's very true. Because in the Philippines, two of the biggest sports is basketball and volleyball. And not a lot of people play tennis because here it's considered the sport of the elite.

11:00Because a lot of people can't afford to play tennis because it pays to, you know, to rent a court, to have those equipments. And not everyone can afford that in a third world country. That's why people like team sports here. And for Alex to excel in such sports by her own, funded by her backers, long-time backers, both her backers, Globe and BPI, they're long-time backers of her. So they first believed in her before the government did, before the people did. So they're the first ones to believe in Alex. And I think Alex, as far as I remember, first held the racket at age four, and she learned it from her grandfather.

11:47It was her first coach. So she has an older brother who first grabbed the racket before her, two years before her, but then eventually followed because it's a sport of their family.

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13:33you're listening to the documentary from the bbc world service i'm ed harry and this is a bonus episode of more than the score i'm talking to journalists kate reyes and ben rothenberg about why the philippines alexi yala could be a game changer for the world of tennis ben so far the miami open was a huge breakthrough she was clearly a huge talent the rafa nadal academy me help to nurture that talent what about at the grand slams though i think only once in five attempts has she won a singles match at a grand slam so far how big is that next hurdle i'm for any player obviously but for the talent that alex is it's far from easy as she's found again at the australian open no it's a very tough sport and it's you know very cutthroat sport you know everyone's out here to win everyone is trying as hard as they can everyone has coaches everyone's training everyone's been a lot most of these players have been doing it since they're around four years old or close to that in age.

14:24I mean, it really has been a lifelong dream for these women who grew up as girls all around the world and all with their own stories and all with their own journeys and ambitions and dreams and hopes. And it's a very competitive sport. Obviously, there's a lot of money. It's by far the most lucrative women's sport in the world in terms of earning potentials for female athletes. So yeah, it's a very crowded space. And yes, Ayala only has won one match so far to Grand Slam. That was at the US Open last year. She won a first round match. But I don't think there's reason necessarily to panic in terms of her, you know, development, she's still only 20 years old.

14:54I don't know that it's clear in terms of players who I'm used to talking about as, you know, big stars. I don't know that it's clear necessarily that Ayala is a future number one, you know, the way we often talk about players that way. I don't know what the ceiling is on her potential yet. She can still improve, but she's not someone who I think people watch and say, oh my gosh, she's a surefire champion per se. I think the excitement around her is really based around her background, her nationality, and the energy that she's brought with the Philippines. And so often that's the case in tennis, you know, that players who resonate the most aren't necessarily the ones who win the most.

15:26Billie Jean King did not win as many trophies as some of the other players in her era, but she had a lasting legacy that really changed the sport. And I think Ayala is positioned in that same way. And just to add to what she said about homegrownness and athletes, there's a stat, I believe, for when the Philippines was in the Women's World Cup, I think something like 18 of the 23 players who were on the roster for the Philippines were born in the U.S. There's a huge trend in the Philippines of getting diaspora athletes to play. And actually, the previous best Filipino player of the 21st century, who's a men's doubles player in tennis, a guy named Tret Huey.

16:01Actually, he went to high school near me in Washington, D.C., and actually played against his team as an American growing up. And then he turned pro and represented the Philippines later on, even though he had been born and raised in Washington, D.C. with a Filipino background, but still raised as an American. So there is something unique and powerful in Ayala, no matter what her results wind up being in the end, that I think is still going to make her a hugely important figure for this big country, too. You know, I think that even though it doesn't necessarily have a big footprint in world sports and certainly not in tennis, the energy and the passion behind this more than 100 million people is going to be pretty enormous.

16:35First of all, in the Philippines, you know, it's not very often that we have generational talents. It's always one per generation. And just a fun fact, back in 2021 Tokyo Olympics, we just had our first ever gold medal for the Philippines. So that too had a lot of support. So it's not all the time that we have these big athletes, you know, carrying the flag for us. That's why we're always so passionate whenever one does it. And at this point, it's Alex. And yes, going back to your question, you know, on a smaller scale, it's a funny story, but the tennis courts right now, they're harder to book than ever.

17:19The tennis courts right now, the very few tennis courts. And I think they're starting to convert a lot of spaces into tennis courts right now. And we've done a research before and we talked to like club owners a lot. They're getting a lot of inquiries and the grassroots programs, the coaches are getting a lot of inquiries of young kids trying to, you know, trying to try out tennis instead of the usual route of Filipino children getting into basketball. So that's a really, really good start for the sport. And tomorrow we're going to start to host our first ever WTA 125 tournament in the Philippines.

17:57That's the first ever. So as you can see, signs are showing that it's going the right direction for tennis. And that's from Alex's impact. Yeah, as you say, the Philippine Women's Open just around the corner, another first. Ben, we began by talking about just how oversubscribed that match was. Alexiala's match at the Australian Open out on court number six. do organizers of slams need to get better at this kind of thing because they clearly when they scheduled her match had a real blind spot and it sounds fantastic it sounds good-natured it sounds like everybody at melbourne park was kind of watching if they could but it would have been even better wouldn't it if they could have broken with tradition perhaps and and put that match on a much bigger court in recognition of just how many people wanted to watch it no it was a huge mistake And I think in some ways it was almost a public safety issue to have this many thousands of people wanting to get access to this very limited space.

18:56I knew that as soon as the order of play came out and I saw the order of play for Alex on Court 6 for this match, you know, there are stadiums that are open to the public. You know, it's kind of tricky because there are a couple of stadiums here where you buy tickets well in advance and you have the reserve seat. Those are the two main stadiums here at Melbourne Park, Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena. I understand not wanting to put Eyal on there because, you know, if you're someone who bought a ticket to one of the main stadiums at a Grand Slam event, you want the marquee players and the biggest star.

19:25And if this, you know, player is ranked 49th or so, trots out to player player and her opponent, Parks, is ranked about 100th, then it would seem like, why am I getting this match? This is not one of the better matches. But just in terms of capacity, in terms of size of supply and demand, in terms of understanding the afterferry, they absolutely should put her on the biggest publicly open court possible, I think, which is called John Kane Arena. There's a few other options, too. But they just really didn't do it. And, you know, privately, you're talking about putting different factors into consideration for scheduling.

19:55You know, one of them being players' rankings, players' past legacies, you know. And on paper, yeah, Alexialla doesn't look that, you know, enticing as a player to watch. She only has won one Grand Slam match before. She's ranked 49th, which is a career high for her. So she has not been a top player on any level. But the energy for her is there. The people are there for her. And this tournament also is a tournament that used to, at least, bill itself for a long time as the Grand Slam of Asia Pacific. You know, they wanted to be inclusive of this entire region. And this is one of their home players by that definition.

20:24You know, this is a player from their part of the world they're representing as the only, you know, Grand Slam event in this part of the world longitudinally. So it's something that they definitely should do better with next time for several reasons. And if, you know, if the ally can keep her results similar or growing, I think the demand for is only going to get better. I just hope that there aren't too many fans who, you know, came and had a bad experience and don't try to come back because they, you know, maybe flew in, spent a lot of money on a trip to Melbourne and for tickets and flights and whatnot, only to have to watch on a TV screen.

20:55So hopefully the next time they can do better and also make assurances in advance that they will do better so that they can excite the fans and have them come back and give Ayala her proper reception. But in the meantime, Ayala is going to keep playing a tour calendar. I mean, one of the Filipino athletes I've heard her most compared to in terms of being a sensation is Manny Pacquiao, who's the boxer. And Manny, you know, as a boxer, was not fighting, you know, weekly or playing, you know, doing weekly competitions the way that a tennis player can do. So there will be lots of chances around the globe for fans in all corners of the world to get a chance to watch this new star.

21:29And to you, Kate, finally, what do you hope and believe that Alexiola can achieve? I guess let's look over the next 12 months. What do you hope she can achieve in 2026? Honestly, everyone's dream, of course, is the Grand Slam for Alex. But first and foremost, she only won a WTA 125 title and we want a WTA Tour title for her. Probably if we're looking at let's slowly but surely for her rise. So realistically, I want her to have that WTA Tour title. So 250 and above. And then we can go from there. And a couple more upsets for sure. Yeah, it's been fantastic so far. We can't wait to see what Alex Iala does next.

22:14Kate Reyes from the Filipino sports website spin.ph. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. And hoping to see more of Alex out there. Absolutely. Thank you. And Ben Rothenberg, I suppose, finally, another measure of all of this is going to be quite how many journalists from the Philippines you start spotting out there on the global tennis circuit. Yeah, I think there were two representing Filipino publications here. I actually don't even know if either of them are from the Philippines. I think one of them is a local from Melbourne, at least the one who I spoke to at some length, who was just here and could cover it from there.

22:44But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how much more space they need to make in the press room if a big travelling pack of journalists comes from the Philippines. That's often how it works you know in tennis that there's a sort of a crop of interest in journalists from a local player as they're there and then when that player fades away the journalist can fade away too so if the interest is anything to go by she should have a big following soon but for right now it's a huge virtual following already i didn't mention this yet but one of the biggest telltale signs of eala's popularity i think was that on the tournaments the australian opens youtube channel for the pre-term press conferences eala's press conference before the tournament had by far the most views of any player and like really blew everyone else out of the water i think when i checked it right after her match she was at about 173 000 views uh second place uh was novak jokovich who was about 84 000 the world number one for the men's side in alcaraz is about 28 000 so i mean that's yeah i had six times that she was completely in a league of her own and so the demand for her the sort of alimania is uh is riding high you've been listening to the documentary with me, Ed Harry, and a special bonus episode of More Than The Score.

23:48My thanks to our guests, Kate Reyes and Ben Rothenberg. You can find more interviews, discussions, stories, and insight from the world of sport by following and subscribing to More Than The Score, wherever you get your podcasts. We focus on the part of the internet that most people don't know about. It's called the dark web. Undercover in the furthest corners of the dark web, US special agents are on a mission to locate and rescue children from abuse. From the BBC World Service, World of Secrets, the darkest web follows their shocking investigations. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts.