The recently concluded Miami Open featured some thrilling matches and interesting stories, perhaps none more than a player who was given a wildcard to enter the tournament.
Teenager Alexandra Eala took her chance to compete on the big stage and she proceeded to reach the semi-finals at the WTA 1000 event.
She wowed fans with her fearless performances, and the future certainly looks bright for the Rafael Nadal Academy graduate.
Mats Wilander compares Alexandra Eala to Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka
Eala produced some magical performances to reach the Miami Open semi-finals.
She showed great poise and confidence to beat three Grand Slam champions on the way to the last four in Florida.
One of them was Iga Swiatek, and six-time Grand Slam winner Mats Wilander thinks Eala has something in her game that the Pole and World number one Aryna Sabalenka do not.
“In the women’s game, that is so cool that we have someone that comes out that does all these things that maybe Sabalenka and Swiatek are not great at doing. They’re great at other things,” he told TNT Sports.
“But suddenly, we have a player that can play tennis that is mystical to the rest of us. Like, ‘Oh, my God, how do you do that? How do you understand tennis? How do you hit those shots?’”
Responding to those comments, Eala told One Sports: “Well those are very flattering words and super flattered to be even mentioned in the same breath as all of these legends,” she told her uncle.
“Iga and Aryna are dominating the tour right now so just to be compared to them is a really good sign for me and I think it reflects on the potential that I have for sure.”
Alexandra Eala reacts to Rafael Nadal message at the Miami Open
Eala spent part of her youth playing at and graduating from the Rafael Nadal Academy.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion’s Uncle and former coach Toni Nadal even attended one of her matches in Miami.
Nadal took to X to congratulate her as she progressed through the tournament, and Eala has since said the former World number one directly contacted her.
“Rafa messaged me. It’s the first time he’s ever messaged me personally,” Eala, the new World number 75 said.
“So I think that was a shock to see. Funny story, I only saw it like a couple of days after, it was exciting to see his notification.”