Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was a fan of Filipino tennis player Alex Eala long before she became the breakthrough star of the Miami Open this week. Spoelstra, who is of Filipino descent, met Eala and her family two years ago. She was 17 years old at the time, ranked No. 219 in the world, and had just lost to Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in the Miami Open Round of 128 at Hard Rock Stadium.
She, her family and her agent attended a Heat game against the New York Knicks and visited with Spoelstra. He urged her to keep chasing her dream. They also posed for a photo with the coach and Bam Adebayo. Spoelstra continued to follow her career and on Wednesday attended her stirring upset of No. 2 Iga Swiatek, the third Grand Slam winner she took down during her remarkable run this tournament. Eala, 19, entered as a 140th ranked wild card and had won just two WTA matches during her career before last week.
“Great deal of pride,” Spoelstra said before the Heat’s 122-112 win over the Atlanta Hawks Thursday, when asked what it was like to watch Eala’s match.
“I mean, the country is exploding over her story. I think it’s one of the most inspiring things ever that a world-ranked tennis player comes out of a small place in the Philippines. I had the fortune of meeting her here two years ago. She came to one of our games, nobody knew who she was. She was just a fan, and it was her first time in the Miami Open. And then right now what she’s doing is just absolutely magical.”
Spoelstra was grateful that the Heat schedule this week allowed him to get away for an afternoon to see Eala play in person. “We won that game when she came here two years ago, and I said, ‘OK, I owe her one.’ I’ll be at one of your matches,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s taken two years. But hey, I’m glad I waited because [Wednesday] was incredible. It was so inspiring. I was able to watch the match with her family, her agent, her coach and just seeing the pride of everybody in that circle. It’s really inspiring. … It was a special day and she’s still going. It’s a magical ride.”
Eala’s magical ride ended at 12:45 a.m. Friday after a nearly-three hour semifinal against No. 4 Jessica Pegula of the United States. Pegula prevailed 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-3 and will play top ranked Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final. After the match, Filipino fans who stayed at Hard Rock Stadium for the late match waved flags and cheered for Eala. She broke into a huge smile, waved, and made a heart with her hands. Her amazing run had come to an end, but one gets the feeling there will be much more to come.
