Alex Eala will attend the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.
The Filipina is targeting a gold medal at the event, outlining her plans during a recent press conference.
“You think I’m going for the first round? Am I going to… Yes [I’m going for gold],” said Eala.
How many Grand Slams will Alex Eala win in her career? 🏆
She's just knocked out the defending Wimbledon champion!
The target is clear, as Eala looks to become the 16th woman to win the Asian Games women’s singles tennis title.
Alex Eala could become the first Filipina to win tennis gold at the Asian Games
Tennis was introduced to the Asian Games in 1958.
There, Japan’s Sachiko Kamo defeated the Filipina, Desideria Ampon, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, to take gold in Tokyo.
Every Asian Games women’s singles tennis champion
| Asian Games | Champion | Runner-up |
| 1958 (Tokyo, Japan) | Sachiko Kamo (JPN) | Desideria Ampon (PHI) |
| 1962 (Jakarta, Indonesia) | Akiko Fukui (JPN) | Reiko Miyagi (JPN) |
| 1966 (Bangkok, Thailand) | Lany Kaligis (INA) | Kazuko Kuromatsu (JPN) |
| 1974 (Tehran, Iran) | Lita Sugiarto (INA) | Paulina Peisachov (ISR) |
| 1978 (Bangkok, Thailand) | Lee Duk-hee (KOR) | Chen Juan (CHN) |
| 1982 (New Delhi, India) | Etsuko Inoue (JPN) | Kim Soo-ok (KOR) |
| 1986 (Seoul, South Korea) | Li Xinyi (CHN) | Lee Jeong-soon (KOR) |
| 1990 (Beijing, China) | Akiko Kijimuta (JPN) | Chen Li (CHN) |
| 1994 (Hiroshima, Japan) | Kimito Date (JPN) | Naoko Sawamatsu (JPN) |
| 1998 (Bangkok, Thailand) | Yayuk Basuki (INA) | Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) |
| 2002 (Busan, South Korea) | Iroda Tulyaganova (UZB) | Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) |
| 2006 (Doha, Qatar) | Zheng Jie (CHN) | Sania Mirza (IND) |
| 2010 (Guangzhou, China) | Peng Shuai (CHN) | Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) |
| 2014 (Incheon, South Korea) | Wang Qiang (CHN) | Luksika Kumkhum (THA) |
| 2018 (Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia) | Wang Qiang (CHN) | Zhang Shuai (CHN) |
| 2022 (Hangzhou, China) | Qinwen Zheng (CHN) | Zhu Lin (CHN) |
| 2026 (Aichi-Nagoya, Japan) | – | – |
68 years on, Ampon remains the last player from the Philippines to play the women’s singles gold medal match.
Gold medals by nation
- 1. China – 6
- 2. Japan – 5
- 3. Indonesia – 3
- T-4 – South Korea – 1
- T-4. Uzbekistan – 1
She isn’t the only Filipina to have won a medal, though.
Making her Asian Games debut in 2022, Eala took bronze, despite losing to the eventual champion, Qinwen Zheng, in the semi-finals.
Alex Eala at the 2022 Asian Games
- 2R [WIN] vs (PAK) Sarah Mahboob Khan, 6-0, 6-0
- 3R [WIN] vs (IND) Rutuja Bhosale, 7-6, 6-2
- QF [WIN] vs (JPN) Kyoka Okamura, 0-6, 7-5, 6-0
- SF [WIN] vs (CHN) Qinwen Zheng, 1-6, 7-6, 3-6
Eala, 18 at the time, pushed a future Grand Slam finalist and Olympic gold medalist all the way to a deciding set.
The question is, can she go one step further in 2026?
Now an established name in the women’s game, Eala will travel to Japan as one of the title favourites.
Asian players in the WTA top 50
| WTA Rank | Name | Country | Points |
| 2 | Elena Rybakina | Kazakhstan | 8,143 |
| 13 | Naomi Osaka | Japan | 3,146 |
| 28 | Alex Eala | Philippines | 1,666 |
| 39 | Janice Tjen | Indonesia | 1,282 |
| 40 | Wang Xinyu | China | 1,276 |
She has already won a gold medal for her country at last year’s Southeast Asian Games, defeating Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew in the final.
Whether she can win another gold for the Philippines remains to be seen.
When is the 2026 Asian Games?
The 2026 Asian Games opening ceremony is scheduled to take place on Saturday, September 19.
But the tennis event doesn’t start until the second week of the Games, beginning on Sunday, September 27.
That should give Eala plenty of time to recover after the US Open, which finishes on Sunday, September 13.
The women’s gold medal match is scheduled for either Friday, October 2, or Saturday, October 3.
Those dates coincide with the beginning of the China Open WTA 1000 event.
She should, however, be ready to return to WTA Tour action at the Wuhan Open tournament, which starts the week beginning October 12.
