By MARK REY MONTEJO
Unknown to many, Alex Eala and world No. 4 American Coco Gauff have a warm relationship – they respect each other highly – long before their much-talked quarterfinal showdown at the WTA 1000 Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates,
Almost close in age, the two have crossed paths in several competitions and even joined forces in doubles at last year’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Italian Open) that further strengthened the bond between the two charming stars.
So even when Gauff scored a massive a 6-0, 6-2 win over Eala, there was no hatred on Eala’s part or even vaunting celebration on Gauff’s side after the game.
That’s what you call respect. And that’s what friends are for.
In fact, Eala took the defeat positively and calmly, convinced Gauff’s level of play is still far higher than her at the moment.
But she vowed to do everything humanely possible to close the gap that separates her from the elite group.
“At the end of the day, I think there’s definitely still a gap in terms of level between me and Coco and other players of her caliber,” Eala said in her post-match press conference.
“My job is to try and close that gap, and I think I’m doing that quite well. So I’ll keep working on it and hopefully next time it will be a bit tighter,” she added.
Visibly laser-focused amid the noise of the Filipino crowd at the jam-packed Aviation Club Tennis Centre, Gauff admitted she used the energy from Eala’s supporters as motivation, imagining they were cheering for her to turn the atmosphere into an advantage.
That was her secret.
“Honestly, I had a similar match at French Open last year, so I brought that mindset today of just trying whenever you guys were cheering for Alex,” Gauff continued.
“I was pretending that it was my name and I think that it helped me a lot. And you can’t beat them, you got to join them so,” she added.
It worked wonders for Gauff as she ultimately won her second Slam at Roland Garros, outhustling world No. 1 Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in the championship round, 6–7(7), 6–2, 6–4.
