Alexandra Eala funnily reveals she unintentionally left Rafael Nadal’s message on unread for four days during last year’s Miami Open.
If you can recall, Eala received a main draw wildcard for the 2025 Miami edition to make her WTA 1000 main draw debut. And it turned into something way more than just a common WTA 1000 debut, as the rising Filipina star went on to beat three Grand Slam champions (Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Iga Swiatek) en route to making the semifinal.
To no one’s surprise, Eala set a couple of records with her 2025 Miami run – she became the first-ever Filipina to beat Grand Slam champions and top-10 players, as well as the first female player from her country to make the top-100.
Before turning pro, Eala attended and graduated from Nadal’s academy. The Spanish tennis icon closely followed the Filipina’s 2025 run and he made sure to congratulate her on an outstanding run. But since the rising star wasn’t checking her phone during the tournament because she wanted to solely focus on the tennis part, it took her days before she noticed one special message in her DM.
Eala: I saw Nadal’s message like four days later… I apologized for not replying earlier and thanked him
“Well, yeah. My phone was blowing up, and I tried not to look at it a lot. Rafa sent me a message, but I saw it like four days after. I apologized for getting back to him so late, but I said thank you,” the 20-year-old shared on Tennis Channel.
This year, Eala is not a wildcard, but a seeded player at the Miami Open. After a first-round bye, the No. 31 seed survived a three-hour and 20-minute marathon to outlast Laura Siegemund 6-7 (6) 6-3 6-3.
“I think I had to be patient. The match was so long I lost my voice. I think patience was key and waiting for the right moments. Yeah, patience, a lot of patience,” the Filipina said after edging out Siegemund.
Eala’s Miami third-round opponent will be Magda Linette, who upset Iga Swiatek.