Alexandra Eala and Joao Fonseca, despite being 20 and 19 years old respectively, are arguably the two biggest stars of the sport right now.
After all, they are backed religiously by two huge fanbases, willing to follow them to every tournament, no matter their form.
The Filipina talent is yet to win a tour-level title, while the Brazilian has shown promise but is yet to put together a serious run at a major event.
Yet that means little for their supporters, with devotion guaranteed.
They have proven exactly why the tennis tours have made an error in recent years, and actually shown the way forward for them.
Alex Eala and Joao Fonseca prove the tennis tours wrong
Despite its worldwide appeal, tennis has perhaps been guilty of failing to capitalise on this potential for popularity.
As such, as of last year, tennis was the fifth-most popular sport in the world, beaten by football, cricket, basketball and hockey.
Does anybody else even come close to Alex Eala’s popularity right now?
It feels like, with the presence of Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the sport should have used these four superstars, and the many more who competed with them, to take tennis up that leaderboard.
However, only now are they really pushing their superstars, in an effort to break into the realms of popular culture rather than just tennis.
Alexandra Eala and Joao Fonseca, however, are proving that it does not take a dominant superstar to build a following and increase the profile of the sport.
All it takes is searching in the right areas and developing new untapped markets. That is where this duo have proved both the ATP and WTA Tours wrong.
How the ATP and WTA Tours can learn from Alex Eala and Joao Fonseca
Fortunately, their emergence onto the scene has shown the way forward for tennis.
The Philippines and Brazil are two nations notorious for their passion, whether that be regarding other sports or just in general.
And yet, even with the likes of Gustavo Kuerten, tennis failed to capitalise and usher in a huge new market.
By promoting the sport in places like this, with well-documented passion but a lower level of interest, they can open up an entire nation to the sport and perhaps inspire the next big superstar.
Joao Fonseca will be the man to unsettle Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s duopoly over men’s tennis – Prove us wrong!
As Eala has done for the Philippines, they can then bear the torch and help build on this interest, pack out stadiums, and thus improve the sport as a whole.
Eala was recently described as good for tennis. Both she and Fonseca could leave an impact that actually reshapes the sport entirely, for the better.
