ROLAND GARROS

May 23, 2026

Alexandra Eala

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Alex, happy birthday, and also, welcome back to Paris. Just talk about your preparations so far in the tournament.

ALEXANDRA EALA: Yeah, I'm having a lot of fun here. A lot of good practices and a lot of hours on court, so I'm really excited to start the week.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Alex, we saw that Zeynep and Eva Lys and even Jovic, who you obviously play next, celebrated you on court. Can you tell me about the connection between you young players and also what it's like to be facing one of them in the first round already?

ALEXANDRA EALA: Yeah, they were so sweet. They were sweet enough to come to me with a cake this morning. Yeah, each and every one of them are such dear friends of mine, and I think, you know, I don't know how I would survive the tour without these friendships, because it's not just, you know, my friends from tennis. They're really my friends, you know, in life I would say.

Yeah, it's very normal that at times we play each other. We play so many tournaments. We're professionals. At the end of the day we know how to handle it, and we know how to keep it separate.

Yeah, there's nothing special that you need to do in terms of the relationship. You don't need to change anything about it, yeah.

Q. Happy birthday. It's my wife's birthday, too.

ALEXANDRA EALA: Oh, happy birthday to your wife.

Q. Cool women are born this day. Obviously you get the enthusiastic crowds. I'm wondering how that affects your emotions and if ever you have sort of trouble keeping your emotions in check when you are riding the waves of all the excitement in these buildings, because sometimes, you know, players, their emotions, when they go really high, they can also go really low, too, and I'm wondering if that's been a challenge for you in any way, especially during this past year when you've had the privilege of experiencing such excitement?

ALEXANDRA EALA: Yes. I think the challenges that come with tennis in terms of keeping your emotions in check are not solely based on the crowd.

There are so many things in tennis that can make you tense, that can make you excited, that can make you disappointed during the match that does not involve external factors or does not involve things that are outside of the court.

In the end, with or without the crowd, I think being able to harness your emotions in a positive way that will benefit you and to keep them in check is a really great skill for every athlete to have.

I think personally that I've been doing it quite well. Of course, there are certain moments that are more difficult than others, but in general, I think I've been handling it well, yeah.

Q. Of course, at the Australian Open and other tournaments there are extremely incredible many fans coming to your matches from your home country. I wonder, how big is the hype in your home country? How famous are you there? Do you expect here, which is a bit further from the Philippines, to come many fans, as well?

ALEXANDRA EALA: That's a very good question. I don't really know how to answer that. I do get a lot of love. I get a lot of support from my home country, which I'm so, so proud of, and I'm so grateful for.

It's a very difficult question to answer. I think it's very relative. It depends who you ask. But, yeah, super grateful for all the support, yeah.

Q. You had quite a full clay season, almost playing every week. I'm just wondering how -- and it's the first time you've played all these in a row on clay. I'm just wondering, how prepared do you feel for this tournament? Do you feel differently compared to the past on the surface, and in general, are you drained at all from playing all those weeks, or how are you feeling on that front?

ALEXANDRA EALA: Well, I definitely feel more prepared than last year. I think I have improved a lot on the surface.

Of course, I have such a long way to go, but I think I have improved a lot in the past year as player, and it's really helped me manage the challenges that come with the surface for me. I think I'm super excited for this week.

We do the preparation obviously to arrive to the Grand Slams well, so I am feeling good. I'm happy. You know, nothing on the line, nothing to lose. So I'm really excited, yeah.

Q. Just back to that question, you mentioned some challenging moments with your emotions. What have those moments been, and what are your techniques for dealing with it?

ALEXANDRA EALA: Of course, the obvious answers would be losses, bad losses, or days where you're not feeling the ball well.

I don't think there's a specific thing I do to get myself out of that trance. Maybe I talk a lot with my coaches, I talk a lot with my parents and tell them how I feel.

I think it's always a good thing if you have somebody you can consult or you can just share whatever with, and for me that's my team and my family and my friends here on tour, you know?

But, yeah, I think that with even -- okay, I am very early in my career on the WTA, but I feel like I've experienced already so many of those moments, because you start competing or you start -- I started tennis when I was 4. So just being put in that position again and again and again, you just figure out the way.

Like all of the players here, you just figure out the way to get out of it, and sometimes it's not something you can explain or it's not something you can teach. It's just something that we have, and that's why we're here.

Q. I'm curious, you had such a big Cinderella run last year in Miami and got, you know, a huge jump in the rankings and a lot of ranking points. Now more than a year later, those points have fallen off. I'm curious at all if that's a relief. It's the first time having this big amount of points and big amount of ranking jump, and now that you've survived a full cycle past that and you're still a top-50 player and the world hasn't ended, if it's at all relaxing to feel like you're more even?

ALEXANDRA EALA: I wouldn't use relief as the word. I'm very proud. If we talk about Miami specifically, I was started 140, and then after that I was around, like, 75, something like that.

Not only did I maintain that ranking after Miami this year, I was, like, 40 or something, which is really good. Of course, I'm always hungry, I'm always wanting to improve, but I'm really proud of that. I think that's something I should take pride in, and we did put a lot of work into that.

But, yeah, I think I've done a lot of good things even at the start of the year. So I don't feel like any point in time is so much pressure, you know. Not even when I arrived to Miami. So, yeah, I hope that answers your question.

Q. When Iga prepared for the clay season at the academy, I think I saw a photo of you together, but I was wondering, did you hit with her at all or did you get to watch her practice?

ALEXANDRA EALA: Unfortunately, no. I think I did see her practice from afar, and I did watch a couple of points, but I had already finished practicing that day, and I was leaving the next day for another tournament.

So I wasn't able to, you know, time that interaction, but I would have loved to hit with her while she was there, but I think she had a great time.

Q. Just on that, because obviously on the men's side Rafa was this clay, like, I don't even know how to explain it, and then Iga is the same as well. To get better on the surface, do you watch videos of players like that at all or even with Rafa, is there anything specific on clay that he's told you that you think has really helped you?

ALEXANDRA EALA: Yes, definitely there are so many things that you can take away from both of those players. You know, you have to pick and choose. You really have to pick and choose what you're going to take from them, because it's -- I mean, you see me and you see Rafa, he's just like a machine. I personally can't be, like, there and running here, running there, hit a winner like this.

But there are definitely certain things that I've seen in their games that I can implement more in mine, yeah.