(UPDATED) Filipina tennis superstar Alex Eala had a hilarious moment with a fan, who gave her a surprise marriage proposal inside a store in Fifth Avenue, New York City.
In a reel, which has been circulating online, Eala can be seen turning to her father for help after the fan got down on one knee and showed her a lollipop ring.
Eala was invited to be part of a fan event hosted by an American athletic footwear and apparel brand. In the fan event, fans of Eala lined up to get their shirts signed and have a moment with the tennis star.
The fan who "proposed" to Eala is content creator Tony Zhao, who also shared the video on his social media account. As of writing, the reel has been viewed for over 1.5 million times.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News' TJ Manotoc, Zhao shared how the funny idea of "proposing" to Eala happened.
“At first I got invited to a Nike House of Innovation event. And then they told me Alex is going to be there, and then we can have like 15 seconds to interact with Alex. And so, you know, I thought, what's something that's fun, funny, and something that could go viral? And I was just walking through streets of New York and the idea just kind came to my mind. ...I was like 'what's like one thing that when she sees it, and she laughs?' So a ring pop come into my mind. So we chose that ring pop," Zhao said.
Zhao admitted that he never expected Eala's reaction to his funny stunt.
"To be honest, I didn't expect but yeah, that was a great, great, great reaction," Zhao said.
He also shared his thoughts when Eala's father came into the picture.
"That was very cute. I saw how Alex interacted with her dad, and it was very, like, wholesome moment and her dad is oh my God, cool, very cool," he said.
As a non-Filipino, Zhao said it was really great to see Eala shining in tennis.
"Oh, we love it. As Asian myself, I support all Asians and of course all the great players, non-Asians as well, but seeing Alex just shine through couple of years, like, it's been great," said Zhao, who's hoping that Eala could win all her games.
Eala, 21, recently rose to a career-high of No. 18 in the WTA Rankings. This makes her the highest-ranked Southeast Asian woman in WTA singles history.