Eala ready to take ‘two steps forward’

Alex Eala in action at the International Tennis Federation W25 Manacor. ALEX EALA FACEBOOK

Unfazed by the rough start to her season, Alex Eala vowed to bounce back stronger over the next two weeks chasing her second championship in the pros.

Unlike in the first leg of the W25 Manacor, Eala made it to the main draw of the second leg that starts on Tuesday.

“It’s going to be really hard, and you’re not always going to be progressing,” said Eala in her commercial debut for Nike that was launched recently. “You’re not always going to see improvement, but sometimes you have to take one step back to move two steps forward.”

Eala crashed out in the qualifying final last week, losing to France’s Alice Rame, 6-2, 6-4. That was after she won her matches against Slovakia’s Mia Chudejova, 7-6 (2), 6-3 and Slovenia’s Ella Hojnik, 6-1, 6-1.

“Not the result I wanted today but still happy with my performance on the court,” Eala would later write on her Facebook page.

She was coming from a bout with COVID-19 during the holidays which cut short her preseason training in Miami, Florida.