Alexandra Eala’s Australian Open campaign came to a disappointing end as she fell to Alycia Parks in the first round.
Eala was one of the star attractions at the Australian Open, with thousands of fans flocking to her match on Court 7.
Despite her popularity, Eala failed to reach the second round after a three-set loss to the American world number 79.
Eala was disappointed with the loss, but she took some time out to share her thoughts on the Australian Open crowd.
Alexandra Eala says crowd reaction helped ‘cushion the loss’ at the Australian Open
The Filipina’s ranking of world number 49 does not correlate with the popularity she currently has in Melbourne.
Fans queued for hours to try and get into Eala’s match with Parks and Court 7 was awash with Filipino flags.
After the shock defeat, Eala was asked whether the huge crowd actually put pressure on her.
Does anybody else even come close to Alex Eala’s popularity right now?
She responded: “You’re not thinking about what this does for the Philippines. You’re thinking about what do I need to do in the next point.
“And then, of course, there are moments after the match when you walk off and you realize there’s so many people and they give so much love. Then you reflect on it, and it helps cushion the loss, I guess. Depends how you look at it.
“But there are certain moments when I’m with my family and we talk about kind of how much we have grown and the journey leading up to this. Those are the types of moments you can look back and say, Wow, there’s a lot of people today.
“I guess the learning for doubles is just, I mean, it’s hard to take the learnings from singles and go to doubles. Then I feel like there were a couple of things I could work on today that maybe tomorrow will be improved on.
Eala plays doubles with Ingrid Martins at the Australian Open, and they will face Magda Linette and Shuko Aoyama on 20 January.
Alexandra Eala compares Australian Open crowd with US Open
Eala has brought tennis to the mainstream in the Philippines and they have responded by flocking to her matches all around the world.
The Filipina’s breakout year in 2025 saw her win her first Grand Slam match at the US Open, where she defeated Clara Tauson.
Thousands of Filipino fans flocked to Flushing Meadows to watch Eala and the Australian Open was no different.
How high do you think Alexandra Eala’s ceiling is?
Comparing the crowd sizes between New York and Melbourne, Eala said: “This was definitely one of the bigger Filipino turnouts. Also New York was huge.
“It was tough because it also depends what court you’re on, you know, that you feel the noise and things. I would say the top two so far have been Melbourne and New York.”
Now Eala is out of the Australian Open, she will be able to play the very first Philippine Women’s Open in Manila.
