MELBOURNE – The Australian Open is showing the world that the most popular player can come from the Philippines and that Indonesia, Thailand or Türkiye can be the birthplace of protagonists on the circuit.
“There are tennis countries and we are not one of them, so it is a really good thing that there are more players and more surprises, I saw Alex Eala play a few days ago and the crowd was crazy too,” Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez told the media.
The 23-year-old tennis player is the first player in Turkish history in the third round in Australia. He will enter the top 100 for the first time thanks to his notable performance in Melbourne, where he passed qualifying.
The fans of a country that has never had players among the 50 best in the world were noticed in the first Grand Slam of the year every day that Sommez appeared. His compatriots filled the stands with flags and made noise singing.
The Filipinos, meanwhile, blocked the access to Court 6 to try to see Alexandra Eala in the first round.
Huge lines, people sitting on the stairs and large masses of stragglers following the game from the giant screens in Melbourne Park. Eala has not yet won titles on the major WTA circuit, but she is already a star. Fans from her country call her the “Filipino Princess.”
The 20-year-old, polished at the Rafa Nadal Academy, is the only professional tennis player from a nation with more than 115 million inhabitants. Its popularity is noticeable in tournaments and also on the web.
“If you look at the views of her press conferences you realize that she is huge, she has a huge following from the Philippines. It’s incredible and it’s something that tournaments should pay attention to,” said former tennis player Andy Roddick on his Served podcast.
The only press conference he gave in Melbourne has 58,000 views. It is the second most viewed so far this tournament, only behind Novak Djokovic’s pre-tournament conference. More than those of Roger Federer (50,000) and almost double those of Sinner, Sabalenka and Alcaraz.
Added to the cases of Eala and Sommez is that of Janice Tjen, 23, who became the first Indonesian to win a match at the Australian Open since 1998.
The trio of players, all under 24, are proof of an era that is making its way. You will no longer see tennis dominated only by the most traditional regions of this sport. Nations with less development and tennis culture are now part of the discussion.
The main draw of the Australian Open this year had two names from another Southeast Asian nation: the Thais Mananchaya Sawangkaew and Lanlana Tararudee, 23 and 21 years old respectively.
In 2019 Naomi Osaka was the first player not representing the United States, Europe or Australia to be number one in the world.
A paradigm shift, which in a circuit still dominated by Sabalenka, Swiatek and Gauff, seems poised to become a regular occurrence. It is a matter of time before the traditional mold continues to be broken.
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