What can Vietnamese tennis learn from Eala?

Three and a half years after Emma Raducanu caused a stir at the US Open, the tennis world is witnessing another teenage talent explode.

This time, Alexandra Eala - a 19-year-old girl from the Philippines - wrote a magical story on the hard court of America.

Before the Miami Open 2025, Eala was ranked 140th in the WTA world and was given a wildcard. However, she made history by becoming the first Filipino player to reach the semi-finals of a WTA 1000 tournament. This helped her rise to 75th in the WTA rankings and bring home a prize money of 332,160 USD (nearly 8.5 billion VND), equal to 2/3 of her total career earnings before the Miami Open of 498,901 USD (more than 12.7 billion VND).

Eala's impressive achievements are not due to luck, but the result of years of hard work and skill development. At the age of 13, the young girl joined the Rafael Nadal Academy (Spain).

At the age of 17, she became the first Filipino tennis player to win a Junior Grand Slam (US Open) and rose to No. 2 in the world junior rankings in 2020. She also proved her mettle in doubles, having lifted the trophy at the French Open and Australian Open.

Tien Anh just won the men's doubles championship at the ATF U14 2025 Tournament in Binh Duong on March 28. Photo: VTF

Eala only graduated from the Nadal Academy in 2023 and has said that his decision to move to Mallorca to train at the age of 13 changed his life.

Not only Eala is on the rise, regional tennis is witnessing a strong breakthrough of young players. Kasidit Samrej (Thailand, born in 2001) participated in the Australian Open 2025, causing difficulties for Medvedev (ranked 8th in the world) right from the first round.

Meanwhile, looking back at Vietnamese tennis, the top players have gradually disappeared since the end of 2024 to switch to pickleball. Looking down at the younger generation, there are only a few notable names such as Le Tien Anh, Le Nam Du...

Among them, Tien Anh, the young U14 tennis player ranked 5th in the world at this age group, won the 2024 ITF U14 Asia men's singles and doubles championship ( Bac Ninh ), and most recently won the 2025 ATF U14 men's singles and doubles championship in Binh Duong.

However, Tien Anh, Nam Du and Tuan Phong are just seeds in the making, with a long journey ahead to become pillars of Vietnamese tennis who can win back the SEA Games gold medal, not to mention repeating Ly Hoang Nam's previous achievements...

Eala competed at the 2022 SEA Games hosted by Vietnam and won a bronze medal. She lost to Thai tennis player Luksika Kumkhum (later champion) in the semi-finals.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/quan-vot-viet-nam-hoc-gi-tu-eala-196250329203736215.htm