By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Tennielle Madis vowed to maximize all the opportunity given to her when she competes in the WTA 125 Philippine Women’s Open slated on Jan. 26 to 31.
The 18-year-old standout from North Cotabato, who received one of the wildcard berths, said she was more eager to gain experience in the biggest tournament of her career.
“I’m really excited to just do my best and learn from these athletes,” said Madis in Filipino during Tuesday’s press conference at the Lanson Place in Pasay City.
The said WTA 125 tournament, which will be held at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, is actually Madi’s first international women’s event. She has only played in the local women’s circuit including the Philippine Columbian Association (PCA) Open where she won in 2025.
Prior to that, she also competed in the Billie Jean King Cup, but as part of the PH team.
While she may have limited experience in women’s international events, she’s doing the best she could with the knowledge she got from her junior stints where she ranked as high No. 196 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
At posting time, the list of players for the tournament includes PH’s top player and world No. 49 Alex Eala, who was also given a wildcard, world No. 42 Tatjana Maria, world No. 43 Wang Xinyu, world No. 64 Solana Sierra, world No. 85 Lulu Sun, and world No. 87 Moyuka Uchijima, to name a few.
“The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) is the enabler of international events. This is the best way to showcase what we do to elevate sports in the country,” said Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Patrick Gregorio.
“This is historic. This is an investment in Philippine tennis. We’re building the whole ecosystem here,” added Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) secretary general Mayor John Rey Tiangco.
Meanwhile, tickets for the qualifying rounds up to the quarterfinals will be available starting on Wednesday, Jan. 14. at SM tickets.
Tickets for qualifying matches set on Jan. 24 to 25 are pegged at P200, while main draw matches — from Round of 32 to the quarters — are priced at P1,000.
Semifinal and finals tickets are pegged at P1,500 (Standard Pass) and P2,000 (Premium Pass), but will be available on a later date.
