Alexandra Eala is one of tennis’ most exciting young talents, and her stock only continues to rise with each passing tournament.
Her recent run at Wimbledon represents, by some distance, the best of her career to date.
And, what makes her even more endearing is how she carries herself despite also having to shoulder the sporting burden of an entire nation.
Despite all this, this youngster still finds herself often criticised for failing to live up to the hype that surrounds her – an impossible task, it’s worth noting, given the size of her fanbase.
Her serve is a particular area of scorn, and yet she has tackled these criticisms with incredible patience recently.
Alex Eala discusses the struggles with her serve
Speaking at an event held at Nike Fort in Bonifacio Global City, Alexandra Eala, the main attraction, answered questions from those lucky enough to be in attendance.
One sought to focus on criticisms levelled at her despite her recent upturn in form, particularly with the serve.
How many Grand Slams will Alex Eala win in her career? 🏆
She's just knocked out the defending Wimbledon champion!
As is always the case, the 21-year-old tackled a potentially tough question with incredible maturity, intelligence and grace.
She admitted: “I think this is an important question about having that balance.
“I think it also goes back to that confidence: how confident are you in the work you put in? So I know that I put so much work into my service. People don’t know how much work I put into my serve. So when I go out there and I have a bad serve day, it’s okay, you know, because I know I did my best. I know I’m putting in the work. I’m not letting it pass by. I’m not
“Or, I don’t know, something about my mentality. I’m confident in my mentality; I know I did everything that I could during that specific match. People don’t know what happened in the lead-up to that match. They never know the full story.”
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What helps in this situation, she insists, is those closest to her.
Eala added: “If you have good people around you who are going to be there and tell you the truth when you need to be told the truth, and hype you up when you need to be hyped up. And, you know, be transparent, have your best interests at heart, you should hold them close and trust them the most.
“At the end of the day, it’s all of this noise or any kind of external factors; sometimes it’s ephemeral, and sometimes it’s not real.”
How bad actually is Alex Eala’s serve?
In all honesty, Eala’s serve only gets so much criticism because, all in all, the rest of her game is quite strong.
Adding to the fact that she is inarguably one of the sport’s biggest and fastest-growing stars, it should come as no surprise that her game is regularly scrutinised.
Compared to the rest of the WTA Tour, it is significantly slower.
| Player | First serve percentage | Second serve points won | Serve points won | Aces |
| Aryna Sabalenka | 65.2% | 53.3% | 64.9% | 203 |
| Coco Gauff | 63.7 % | 41.5% | 58.2% | 117 |
| Emma Raducanu | 66.7 % | 44% | 55.9% | 35 |
| Iva Jovic | 60.8 % | 49.6% | 59.4% | 94 |
| Alex Eala | 63.3 % | 47.2% | 56.4% | 56 |
Not only that, but when it comes to first serve points won, she sits 128th compared to the rest of the women’s game.
However, this does not necessarily mean it is that much worse than others.
Iga Swiatek complained about Eala’s serve after their Wimbledon match, claiming she failed to deal with just how slow it was. At times, it can be a weapon.
That being said, it does not have the same reliable and dangerous quality that someone like Aryna Sabalenka or Elena Rybakina might have when serving.
