Alexandra Eala left Centre Court with her hands shaped into a heart and a simple mantra for her millions of followers. “Never say die and play every point like your life depends on it,” she said.
The 21-year-old certainly lived up to those words before her dream here ended in the last 16 with a painful defeat to Jasmine Paolini, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
To call Eala a fan favourite is a bit like saying that Harry Styles sells the odd record. The Filipina is already a massive star, even though she has not yet reached a grand slam quarter-final.
How massive? By the time she stepped on Centre Court on Monday, 1.2 million people had watched highlights of her victory over Iga Swiatek on Wimbledon’s YouTube channel – more than twice as many as watched matches involving Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams.
The support for Eala was high and so were the expectations. After she beat Swiatek, the Philippines’ president hailed her as an inspiration for young people. It meant there were watchalong parties for Eala back home, but those tuning in would not have liked that she was quickly broken to go 3-1 down.
The problem was Eala’s first serve, which despite often floating across the net at a leisurely 80mph, or slower, was going in about 50% of the time. Perhaps the nadir came at 4-1 down in the first set, when she hit a first serve that barely hit the bottom of the net and then clanked her second serve long. Soon the first set had gone too. But as temperatures rose to 31C, Eala refused to wilt.
Having spurned three break chances at the start of the second set, she went on to break Paolini’s next service game and held on to make it one set all. There were loud cheers of “Let’s go, Alex.”
At this juncture, Paolini had won 69 points and Eala 68. Play continued to go on serve until 4-3 in the final set, when Eala made successive errors and was broken.
Despite her serve continuing to trouble her – one effort registered a meagre 65mph – Eala was still able to take the positives from her defeat. “My serve was not as good as maybe other matches,” she said. “But I have days like that. Everyone has days where they don’t play their best.
“I understand that’s part of the job. I don’t think I’m going to be playing the best tennis of my life every single day. I don’t expect that.
“Of course there are things I would have liked to do differently. But in the end, that’s just tennis. That’s also what’s beautiful about tennis, is that every match, it’s different. You’re always finding solutions, the opponent is always finding ways to make you uncomfortable.”
Paolini, who has had a difficult 2026, said she had been inspired by seeing Roger Federer in the Royal Box. “I want to thank Roger, he’s my idol. In the match I was trying to stay focused and not think about him being here.
“I watched all the finals and tournaments he played here. It feels amazing to be standing here with the win.”
Two years ago, Paolini reached the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, losing both, but her form has dipped since and she came here ranked 17th in the world. A foot injury that interrupted her grass-court preparations hardly helped either.
“I came here having not played many matches,” she said. “After the first set in the first round [she lost it 6-0], I was like ‘OK, it can only go better.’ Point by point, game by game, I’m feeling getting better on this kind of court.
“Grass is a weird surface, sometimes you love it, sometimes you can hate it. When you play well and feel good, it’s the best surface to play on. Today, I was really enjoying it and hopefully I can play another good match.”
Paolini will meet Marta Kostyuk, the Ukrainian ranked 13 in the world. After a few ups and downs over the last months, she is relishing what lies ahead.
“It was really tough, a rollercoaster,” she said. “There were tough moments, but I kept working with my team supporting me. Every day I’m feeling better, I feel the right way when I compete on court again.
“That’s the most important thing to me. Stay positive and enjoy my tennis. I love what I do, but I have to enjoy it, it’s my superpower.”
