'Being tired is a blessing,' says new world number 17 Alex Eala

The 21-year-old has already played more than 70 matches so far this campaign with her most recent encounter a 6-4, 6-3 win over Emerson Jones in the first round of the Hong Kong Open on Tuesday.

That match came only five days after the rising Filipina star was beaten in three sets by Diana Shnaider in the quarter-final of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan.

And it was during that Shnaider match that some online criticis noted that she had looked tired in recent weeks, but Eala sees that as positive as she said during her post-match press conference: "I guess that [being tired] is the opinion of some, as you say, I hit my career high this week, so if I am tired and I am 17 in the world, that's great.

"Being tired is a blessing as well, being tired means I have been working hard, I have been having lots of matches, competing a lot."

Eala broke new ground in the WTA Rankings on Monday as she climbed to a career-high of No 17, which is quite an achievement as at the start of the 2025 season she was sitting at No 138.

She went on to peak at No 50 in 2025 and broke into the top 40 in February this year, cracked the top 30 in March and top 20 in August.

Her rise to No. 18 came on the back of winning her maiden WTA Tour singles title, the Washington DC Open, while she also reached the fourth round at Wimbledon - beating defending champion Iga Swiatek in the third round - and the third round of the US Open.

The youngster won the WTA 125K Birmingham Open on grass in June while she won bronze for the Philippines in the Asian Games in September.

Although the year is not done, Eala is delighted with how things have gone so far in 2026.

"The year has been amazing, it has been incredible. I feel like I don't want to get too into it yet. I feel if I get too into it, I will become quite emotional because of the year I have had.

"You know, I'm still [alive] in the tournament, I am still motivated to go as far as I can here, but my year has been absolutely incredible and I am so grateful for everything that I have been through."

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