Things haven’t been going Alex Eala’s way lately.–AFP
MANILA, Philippines–Bad breaks continue to hound Alex Eala’s start to the season.
Seeded into the main draw of the W25 Manacor tournament in Spain, the 16-year-old was forced to withdraw at the last minute because of “a bad case of stomach flu.”
Her father, Mike, reported that she’s still recovering and they are “hoping that she’ll be ready for next week’s tournament.”
Eala is also entered in the third leg of the W25 Manacor, where she is expected to be seeded 14th. The meet begins on Tuesday.
Eala missed the first leg after losing the qualifying final. She was directly accepted in the main draw of the second leg before her withdrawal.
In the preseason, Eala caught COVID-19 while training in Miami, Florida, and had to cut her preparations short to recover.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) No. 526 was looking to win a leg in the W25 Manacor series of tournaments, which is held inside the Rafael Nadal Academy (RNA) where she is a scholar.
Her RNA coaches are trying to pivot her campaign this year to the senior pros, skipping the Australian Open juniors competitions for WTA tournaments in Europe.