THE TWO VERSION OF ALEX
Gritty. Fearless. Determined.
By Coach Oel / HaveFunKeepFit
That’s how tennis pundits describe Alexandra Eala — the Filipino sensation whose game can electrify a stadium… and whose fans seem to rise and fall with every swing of her racket.
But lately, it feels like we’re watching two different players.
Two versions.
Two Alexes.
And strangely enough… the number 33 keeps showing up.
In religion, 33 is the number of rebirth.
In numerology, it represents the highest level of spiritual awareness.
In Dante’s Divine Comedy, each realm has 33 cantos.
In Christianity, Christ was 33 when he died and rose again.
And in Eala’s case?
33 days.
3 matches.
3 losses.
All eerily similar.
Dubai vs Coco Gauff — lost 0-6, 2-6
→ 33 points won out of 88.
Indian Wells vs Linda Noskova — lost 2-6, 0-6
→ Live ranking hovering around #33 while waiting for results.
Miami vs Karolina Muchova — lost 0-6, 2-6
→ Won exactly 33.33% of total points.
Coincidence?
Maybe.
But the pattern gets even stranger.
Muchova was the third Czech player she lost to this year.
Before her: Valentova. Noskova.
Last year? Krejcikova. Vondrousova. Valentova.
Year before that? Siniakova. Bouzkova (twice).
Career record vs Czech players:
0-12.
And here’s the part that made me laugh…
I became a serious tennis fan in 1993.
That was exactly 33 years ago.
So what the hell is going on?
Tennis is a numbers game.
Not symbolic numbers.
Real numbers.
Percentages.
Break points.
Set points.
Match points.
The points that actually decide matches.
Sometimes a player can win more total points…
and still lose the match.
Because tennis is not about winning many points —
it’s about winning the right points.
We saw that in the Djokovic vs Sinner semifinal in Australia.
It wasn’t about dominance.
It was about choosing which battles to win.
Smart decisions.
Cold decisions.
Winning the moments that matter.
But in these three matches…
Alex never even reached that stage.
She didn’t lose the big points.
She never got to play them.
And the crowd — normally loud, proud, unstoppable Filipinos —
was almost invisible.
When you look at the stats, it doesn’t make sense.
In one tournament, she beats top players.
Next match, the numbers look like they came from someone else.
Not just a bad day.
A different player.
Two Alexes.
The ranking difference between her and these opponents isn’t huge.
The skill gap isn’t huge.
So why do the scorelines look like they belong to different leagues?
In tennis we always say:
If the body is fine…
then the problem is in the head.
Tennis is mental.
And this is where the real question starts.
I refuse to believe Eala’s game is far below these players.
How can it be…
when she has beaten strong, in-form opponents before?
Yes, her serve needs more bite.
Yes, she needs more variety.
Yes, there’s room to improve.
But those things don’t explain 0-6 sets.
They don’t explain matches that collapse after three games.
They don’t explain why the fight disappears so early.
In the Gauff match.
In the Muchova match.
Even in Indian Wells.
Once she got broken…
it felt like something inside broke too.
Sometimes top players even give a game or two out of respect.
It’s an unwritten rule in tennis —
don’t destroy your opponent if you don’t have to.
Even Djokovic has done it.
But the worrying part here is not the score.
It’s the feeling.
It looks like she steps on court already believing she might lose.
Not because she’s not good enough.
Because she doesn’t fully believe she can win.
This is not youth anymore.
At almost 21, in women’s tennis,
you’re not a kid.
You’re supposed to believe.
You’re supposed to fight.
You’re supposed to know you belong.
And that’s why these three losses feel different.
Not lack of talent.
Not lack of training.
Not lack of skill.
Lack of belief.
In all three matches, when her serve got broken…
it felt like her spirit got broken too.
And that’s when the two Alexes appear.
One Alex can beat anyone.
The other Alex loses before the match even begins.
The real battle now…
is not against Czech players.
It’s not against Top 20 players.
It’s not even against the rankings.
It’s against the one opponent every tennis player faces sooner or later:
The one inside the head.
#AlexEala
#WomensTennis
#MentalGame
#CocoGauff
#LindaNoskova
#KarolinaMuchova
#TennisAnalysis
#PinoyPride
