Alex Eala Is Playing the Asian Games. It’s Official.
Alex Eala will represent the Philippines at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, this September. Philippine Tennis Association secretary general and Navotas Mayor John Rey Tiangco confirmed her participation this week.
Back in July, Eala had described the Games as part of her plans, not yet locked in, while she weighed a packed WTA calendar against national team duty.
Her Best Season Yet
Eala has climbed the WTA rankings all year. She reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in July, the first Filipina to do that in the Open Era. In August she won her first WTA Tour title at the DC Open, beating world No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the final. That run pushed her into the WTA’s top 20 for the first time. She climbed again on August 24 to a new career-high ranking of No. 18 ahead of the US Open.
Unfinished Business in Nagoya
Eala’s two bronze medals came at the last Asian Games. It carried the “2022” name, but COVID pushed the actual event to September 2023 in Hangzhou, China. She reached the singles semifinals before losing to China’s Qinwen Zheng, then teamed with Francis Casey Alcantara for a mixed doubles bronze. Those two medals ended a 61-year drought for the Philippines in individual women’s tennis at the Games.
She heads into Aichi-Nagoya ranked well above where she stood in Hangzhou, and among the favorites for gold. A gold medal would also qualify her directly for the Olympics. The Asian Games serves as a direct qualification path for the Olympic women’s singles tennis event.
The Calendar Still Matters
The tennis event in Aichi-Nagoya runs from September 27 through roughly October 3, overlapping the start of the WTA’s China Open in Beijing, which runs September 30 to October 11. That overlap kept her participation unofficial for weeks. A national team official identified as Mendoza told SportBible that Eala would play in the Asian Games regardless of how the WTA scheduling resolved.
Her route to Nagoya is tight. After the US Open, where she is seeded 17th, Eala heads to Singapore for a WTA 500 event, then flies straight to Japan for the Games.
