'Still very, very far from his level': Eala shoots down Pacquiao comparisons
MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala is no Manny Pacquiao — at least for now – but no modern Filipino athlete has ever come close to the stature of the legendary boxing champion. Until her.
While the parallels already gained traction as early as last year in the middle of Eala’s rise, comparisons only grew louder after the rising tennis rockstar became the first-ever Filipina WTA Tour champion and highest-ranked Filipino player in history.
But the 21-year-old Pinay pride said she is not in a race to chase the epic of the “Pambansang Kamao”, treating the comparison as an added fuel instead to etch more history for Philippine sports just like he did decades ago.
“I guess my journey has similar things or can give similar things like that so it’s very flattering to be compared to him. At the same time, they’re two unique journeys. They’re two different journeys,” Eala beamed ahead of her much-awaited debut Saturday in the WTA1000 Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio, where she’s seeded No. 17 against Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania.
“I don’t think one takes away from the other. I think I’m still very, very far from the levels of Pacquiao but I think the journeys are both beautiful. They both have their own beautiful characteristics.”
Pacquiao, bridging an unprecedented run in the 90s, 2000s and 2010s, became the first-ever global star from the Philippines, rising as the only eight-division boxing world champion that led him to the Boxing Hall of Fame.
He packed stadiums and arenas around the world and put the Philippines on a screeching halt like a holiday, leading to low traffic volumes and crime rates, every time he stepped on the ring.
It was a phenomenon during the TV, pay-per-view and watch party era that would probably never be replicated in Philippine pop and sports culture, even leading to Pacquiao’s political career as a congressman, senator and later on Presidential candidate.
But here comes Eala in an entirely different era — the generation of social media in a whole new landscape. Ascending in the digital age, TV turns to smart phones and laptops, pay-per-views and watch parties transform to streaming and the number of people outside are now unlimited likes, views and engagements online.
Eala has millions of those while also filling every arena she’s in and having her own watch party at home last Wimbledon. Yet amid all of these “firsts” for Philippine tennis, she still has the 47-year-old Pacquiao to look up to — not to be compared to.
“Pacquiao is such a sporting legend for us Filipinos. He’s done a lot in paving the way for us Filipino athletes,” said Eala.
“It never really crossed my mind when I was watching his fights back home that one day, I would be compared to him. I think the feeling that Pacquiao gave the Filipinos is great to have someone to rally over. and when he would have fights, everyone was so excited and it was a chance for people to get together.”
And for Eala, that impact on the Filipinos is the only thing that she wants to emulate from Pacquiao, nothing less and nothing more.
Both Eala and Pacquiao — who led the Philippine Sports Commission’ mural at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex during the inaugural WTA Philippine Women’s Open inspired by Eala earlier this year — are coincidentally left-handed players serving as the right ambassadors of national sports decades apart.
But to stay on course to that dream, its first things first for the WTA No. 20 Eala against the WTA No. 74 Ruse after the latter’s 6-0, 6-3 drubbing of No. 68 Magda Linette of Poland in the Round of 128.
“I am super excited to be here in Cincinnati for the first time,” said Eala, who earned a first-round bye, as she looks to equalize with Ruse after a 6-3, 1-6, 4-6 loss in the 2024 US Open qualifiers.
With extra motivation from the Pacquiao parallels, Eala is out to ride on the momentum of her streak in the WTA500 Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington D.C., where she won her first crown, and the WTA1000 National Bank Open in Toronto, Canada.
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