‘I want to be like Alex Eala’: Inspired junior players begin training pool

MANILA — Inspiring stories filled the first training session of the Philippine tennis junior training pool at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center on Saturday, with national coaches Chris Cuarto, Roland Kraut, and Gerber Mamawal supervising the session.

Coach Czarina Arevalo is also part of the team that will get together for higher level of fitness and tennis training on Thursday, Friday & Saturday.

The training focused on baseline assessments for the top six junior players in each age group — 12U, 14U, and 16U — for both boys and girls.

The boys had their sights set high as Raven Matthew De Guzman traveled all the way from Pampanga just to be part of the program.

“I want to be world number one and win many grand slams,” he said.

When asked who his idol was, De Guzman said “Carlos Alcaraz”, the same name 11-year-old Rafael Cablitas gave.

However, Cablitas has a very specific dream of his own: “I want to get into a Division 1 college Stanford.”

For the girls, there was really only one answer when asked who inspired them.

Mist May Principe from Quezon province did not hesitate to say: “Alex Eala!”

Many of the younger girls said their tennis dreams started the moment they began following Eala’s rise on the world stage.

“It takes really a lot of hard work and determination,” they said. “I want to be like Alex Eala!”

When asked about their message to the Filipina tennis star, they mostly sent their thank you’s and good luck to Alex’s next tournament in Wuhan, China.

Parents filled the venue for day one, watching their children go through their paces.

Among them was Arnie Gabaldon, mother of junior player Shaner Gabaldon, who said Eala’s success has done something bigger than inspire kids.

“Nakilala ang tennis pero iba yung kay Alex. Si Alex kasi nabuksan yung mata ng mga iba, mga coaches, saka maraming gusto nung tumulong talaga sa mga atleta,” she said.

For her, the sacrifices her family has made do not feel like sacrifices at all.

“Sa akin po, hindi mo sasabihin sacrifice kasi talagang susuportahan mo yung anak mo. Kakaiba lang po siguro sa amin kasi yung story nung kay Shaner,” she said. “Province kasi kami sa Isabela. Dahil sa tennis, napunta kami dito sa Manila. Bale, three years na kami dito sa Manila.”

There are many local and international tournaments that Filipino age group players are eyeing to compete. Among some tournaments in Manila is the PCA Open and the World Tennis J30 end of November.