Filipina tennis star Alex Eala shared a candid reaction to reaching a new career-high ranking of World No. 18 in women’s singles.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) released its latest official rankings on August 24 following the conclusion of the Cincinnati Open, where Alex’s recent points haul helped her climb two spots from her previous best ranking of No. 20.
READ: Alex Eala now World’s No. 18 and the highest-ranked Southeast Asian in WTA Singles history
At just 21 years old, Alex has now become the highest-ranked Southeast Asian woman in WTA singles history, surpassing the previous record of No. 19 shared by Indonesia’s Yayuk Basuki and Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn.
READ: Alex Eala rises to career-high No. 18 in WTA live rankings ahead of Cincinnati debut
Following the historic milestone, Alex appeared to embrace the significance of the number with a witty reference to turning 18 twice.
In her Instagram Stories, the Filipina tennis ace shared a screenshot of her profile on the WTA website showing her career-high singles ranking.
“Turned 18 twice in this lifetime 🥹,” she captioned the post, adding Khalid’s song “8TEEN” as its soundtrack.
Alex also appeared to reference her new ranking in an Instagram dump featuring moments from her recent time abroad, giving fans a glimpse of her life away from the tennis court.
The carousel included photos of Alex spending time with friends and reuniting with her family, including her athlete-brother Miko Eala, who has also played an important role in her tennis journey.
READ: Meet Miko, the brother of Alex Eala who helped shape her tennis journey
In one of the photos, Alex further acknowledged her new milestone by reposting a lyric from Anarbor’s song “18,” which read: “18, crazy.”
The achievement has also prompted an outpouring of support from fans and netizens, who celebrated Alex for continuing to make history for Philippine tennis.
“History made once again...From Nadal Academy beginnings to her first WTA title in Washington and a breakthrough Wimbledon run, she continues rewriting Filipino tennis history,” one posted on X.
“happy 18th, alex! (debutante?!) 🥰 a well deserved milestone and a proud moment for the philippines 🇵🇭 keep going. Alex!" another netizen wrote.
“From childhood dreams in the Philippines to beating the world’s best & she’s not done yet. 🇵🇭,” posted another fan.
Alex’s latest achievement comes after a rapid rise through the WTA rankings in recent months, highlighted by her historic title run at the Mubadala DC Open, where she became the first Filipino player to win a WTA singles title.
Now, Alex is turning her attention to the US Open, where she will compete in both singles and mixed doubles.
For the mixed doubles event, Alex will team up with Canadian World No. 4 Félix Auger-Aliassime. The pair is set to face the husband-and-wife tandem of Elina Svitolina and Gaël Monfils in the first round.