Alex Eala has put tennis into a "different stratosphere" | No surprise Philippines gets a WTA 250

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

20th Century Studios presents the most incredible survival story of the year. Whale Fall on October 16th. To survive the unthinkable, do the impossible. You're gonna become so dangerous that the Predators can't help but let you go.

SPEAKER_3 (0:19)

We're gonna get out of here.

Colin Salau (0:21)

We gotta fall! We gotta fall!

SPEAKER_1 (0:25)

We're gonna fall! Whale Fall, rated PG-13, in theaters October 16th. Get tickets now.

SPEAKER_3 (0:31)

This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required compatibility and availability varies 18 plus.

SPEAKER_4 (0:56)

College football is back, so Hilton called on me, the superstition concierge, to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Wanna make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Ooh, that smells lucky.

Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching band wake up call at 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for this day.

John Silk (1:27)

Ready?

Play.

So we've had some news breaking this week that the Philippines is going to be getting an additional tournament. I say an additional tournament. Of course, last year, it hosted a WTA 125 But now, in addition to that 125 tournament, it's also going to be hosting a WTA 250, as was announced by the Philippines Tennis Association a couple of days ago. I'm actually just going to read their statement out now. So the WTA 250 is coming to the Philippines. Big things are ahead for Philippine tennis in 2027 The slot it will be taking will be the November slot, I believe, in the week before the WTA Finals. But nevertheless, this is big news for Philippine tennis. And I'm very pleased that I'm going to be joined by Colin Salau from Front Office Sports right now to discuss this, and maybe a little bit more. Colin, did this news come as a surprise to you?

Colin Salau (2:37)

It did really come as a surprise to me, to be quite honest. Personally, I had spoken to the Philippine Tennis Association a couple of months ago leading up to the US Open. I was already informed at that time that they were kind of working on this process to get a 250, following the success of the WTA 125 event earlier this year. I think, obviously, we all know what Alex Eala has done for the sport.

You could say it for the Philippines, but I think it's for just the sport at large and the success that she's had. So I think it was no surprise that the Philippines was going to get some form of main tour event. It just so happened to be quite quickly into, you know, immediately after getting the 125 event. The interesting part here to me is more of that people don't understand that even before Alex, there was a level of growth for tennis in the Philippines. You know, working on the WTA 125, that didn't just come out of nowhere. That didn't just come over the last year insofar as kind of the way that Alex has come. This has been something that the Tennis Association in the Philippines has been working on for several years. And I've been informed that, you know, tennis has grown in the Philippines specifically because of COVID. After COVID time, and I was still living in the Philippines during the time of COVID.

The lockdowns in the Philippines lasted for more than a year. And for a while, the government only allowed several sports. Tennis was one of those sports that they allowed. And I think that's really what started this boost for tennis in the Philippines. And then Alex obviously just kind of put it to a different stratosphere.

John Silk (4:23)

Colin, what has struck me as somebody who also works in tennis media is, it seems like it was a sleeping giant, Philippines tennis, in terms of the fact that, of course, it's Alex who's helped fill that void.

Maybe it's a void in a sporting context as well. I'm just wondering, you've had Manny Pacquiao, of course, a huge mega star in boxing, and his career has come to an end, albeit we are in the midst of a possible comeback as well. And maybe someone, whether it was Alex Eala, because she's obviously a fantastic tennis player, she's got the tenacity, and there's so many exciting things about her game that draw eyeballs. But it was just a void that was waiting to be filled by someone who could fill, who could break into the top 100, and obviously Alex has gone much further up the case. Was this something that you always knew that as soon as the Philippines has a star, there's gonna be an explosion, not just on the tennis court and in the crowds? I see it myself. I've been covering tennis now for quite closely for four years, but I've been involved in the sport for 30 plus years. I didn't know that this was such a big thing in the Philippines, that it was just waiting to happen. As soon as you had a star, that this was gonna happen. Did you always sort of know that that was gonna be the case?