Alex Eala is putting her studies on hold in the meantime as the Filipino tennis sensation attempts to ramp up her professional career.
“Right now, I don ‘t see myself joining Division I or any — how would I say — normal college program,” Eala said during a recent press conference as she brushed off reports that she might follow her brother Miko in the US NCAA.
Miko is a member of Penn State.
“But I do still want to continue my education after I graduate high school, on top of my tennis career,” she said.
Eala, the 2022 US Open juniors champion, is in the country for a short break and will be heading back to her homebase in Spain next week.
“I do believe it’s very important to keep the mind working and just to develop who you are as a person. If ever, I would do maybe some online courses. But I won’t take the whole curriculum.”
With Eala continuously traveling around the world for her matches, taking online courses would be the optimal choice for her to take.
In fact, some Filipino athletes opted to attend online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic in between training.
Weightlifter and Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz also took the online route in her classes in College of Saint Benilde while she and her team were stuck in Malaysia in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Italy-based Filipino fencer Maxine Esteban also took nine online courses from Ivy League universities also in the same year.
Focused on improving her No. 217 ranking in the Women’s Tennis Association, Eala said she isn’t specifically setting her sights on a specific rank at the moment and just wants to get higher in the rankings.
After her break, Eala will be focusing on qualifying in the women’s singles division of the French Open.
“I think I’m super happy with my development, and I am proud of what I’ve done because I know the work that it took me to get here,” Eala said.
“Even though it’s very early in my career, I believe that I’ve worked quite a lot and my main goal for this year, like I said, my main goal is really to just be more involved in the WTA circuit. To join more WTA tournaments, and of course the Grand Slams.”
