Alex Eala has struggled to discover kind ever since the US Open this yr.
Eala has loved the best season of her profession so far in 2026, successful her first WTA title in Washington D.C., reaching the fourth spherical of Wimbledon and breaking into the prime 20.
Advertisement
However, it has not been so good for the Filipina since the US Open, highlighted by Eala’s first spherical defeat at the Wuhan Open to world quantity 217 Han Shi.
Former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski has been one of the greatest supporters of Eala all through her rise up the ranks, but he has now admitted if he feels fearful about her following current outcomes.
Greg Rusedski has advice for Alex Eala after her first-round defeat in Wuhan
Since the US Open, where Eala reached the third spherical before dropping to Iva Jovic, she has only performed 5 singles matches at WTA tournaments in Singapore and Wuhan, as properly as the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.
Advertisement
Eala has only won two of these matches, despite not dealing with a single participant ranked inside the world’s prime 80. This contains Eala dropping to two gamers ranked outside the prime 150 in Tatiana Prozorova (No.180) and the aforementioned Shi (No.217).
|
Tournaments Alex Eala has performed since the US Open |
Players Alex Eala has confronted since the US Open |
Ranking of Eala’s opponent at the time |
Result |
|
Singapore Open |
Tatiana Prozorova |
No.180 |
Prozorova beat Eala, 4-6 7-5 6-3 |
|
Asian Games |
Patcharin Cheapchandej |
No.517 |
Eala beat Cheapchandej, 6-1 6-0 |
|
Asian Games |
Joanna Garland |
No.143 |
Eala beat Garland, 7-5 6-0 |
|
Asian Games |
Xiyu Wang |
No.85 |
Wang beat Eala, 3-6 6-3 6-2 |
|
Wuhan Open |
Han Shi |
No.217 |
Shi beat Eala, 4-6 6-3 6-3 |
Despite these current disappointments, Rusedski has said that he is not fearful about Eala and suggested her to take a full break free from the 2026 season. Rusedski has frequently highlighted Eala’s serve as a weak point in her recreation, and that is something he believes she should focus on during the low season.
“There was huge demand for her after Wimbledon, after the US Open,” Rusedski said about Eala on his podcast. “We’ve seen her at the fashion shows for many big brands, we’ve seen her on podcasts outside of sports, a lot of television shows, so she’s trying to balance it out. It’s not surprising that this dip has happened.
“For me the most important period now is strive to end the yr as best as you can, take a break, go on vacation, put your ft up, go home, spend some time with your household, with your brother, put your tennis rackets away, then slowly construct up, make the adjustments in your recreation that everybody’s speaking about, improve your serve, get it higher, and then be recent to begin 2027.
Advertisement
“She’ll be seeded at the Australian Open and I’m expecting her to do really well in 2027. So this isn’t abnormal to have a little bit of a dip, and obviously from her point of view, very disappointed that she couldn’t get the gold medal at the Asian Games, because that was probably a big goal for her after the US Open.
“So it is not uncommon to have a little bit of a dip, so I’m not fearful about it, I know she’s going to bounce back, it’s just a query of whether she’s going to do it at the finish of this yr or at the starting of 2027.”
Eala still has a likelihood to end her 2026 season on a high, as she is entered into tournaments in Ningbo, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
Source hyperlink
