Filipino tennis ace Alex Eala dipped to No. 220 worldwide in the latest Women’s Tennis Association rankings.
Her new position comes after her most recent match against No. 70 German Tatjana Maria last 30 January, where she dropped three places down from No. 217.
Eala lost in two sets, 2-6 and 2-6, as the 35-year-old Maria churned out seven aces, as the Filipino sensation was eliminated from the competition after fighting through the qualifiers of the WTA 250 Thailand Open in Hua Hin, Thailand.
During a press conference in Taguig last week, she said that she is setting her sights now on getting into the French Open and since she is only allowed to compete in 20 tournaments per year, she has to carefully plot her next meets.
“My next target right now is to try and qualify for the French Open. I have to budget my tournaments because as a 17-year-old, I only have 20 tournaments allotted,” said Eala, who is currently on a break in the Philippines before leaving for Spain this 15 February.
“My last tournament was Thailand, that was my 15th tournament. So, until Roland Garros qualification, I have five more until my birthday in May when it resets.”
With this, Eala is currently non-committal to more domestic tournaments such as the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in May and the 19th Asian Games in September as she looks to improve her international ranking but isn’t entirely ruling out the possibility.
But for now, the three-time SEA Games bronze medalist said she is looking to boost herself to get into the second Grand Slam of the year.
“Now, my goal is also to get the ranking that will allow me and enable me to do that. If I can get even higher, then even higher,” Eala said.
“I haven’t set a specific number for the end of the year, but as high as it can go. I’ll take as high as it can go.”
Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek of Poland remains the best women’s tennis player in the world at No.1 while Filipino-Canadian Leylah Fernandez stays still at No. 39.
