WTA 250 in Manila; WTA 125 in Clark or Cebu anti-thesis

THE Philippine Women’s Open, a WTA 125 event, hosted recently in Manila turned out to be a success, and I just can imagine how the organizers behind the event were grinning ear-to-ear.

And the event ended up not getting centered on Alex Eala, which I think was good. The two finalists to the tournament — Donna Vekic of Croatia and champion Camilla Osorio of Colombia — also won the hearts (including mine) of the crowd.

While Vekic appealed to Filipino tennis fans to “adopt” her prior to the WTA 125 tourney in Manila, Osorio also won the hearts of Filipino fans despite her beating Eala en route to the championship.

And when Eala beat Turkish Zeynep Sonmez in the first round of the Abu Dhabi Open 500 yet displayed grace in losing to the Filipino, there were netizens (including me) saying she can also be “adopted” by Filipino fans. Why not?

So, who will be the next female tennis players who will win the hearts of Filipinos and be adopted by us? (Yes, count me in).

The list can be long and can include names such as Eala’s good friend Victoria Mboko, former doubles teammate and Eva Lys, Leyla Fernandez (who has a half-Filipina mother), and the full-blooded Pinay Lizette Cabrera based on Australia. Then there’s Eala’s doubles partner Janice Tjen of Indonesia.

In fact, the list can have as many as 20 or more names.

I can just imagine the reception of the crowd once they see their adopted and beloved foreign players on the court. And that should make the Philippine tennis community consider two WTA events in the country: WTA 125 and WTA 250.

I say this as upgrading to WTA 250 with no WTA 125 event might result in Filipina tennis players outside of Eala ending up a cannon fodder. Just imagine Tjen matching up against the best Filipina collegiate tennis players or Eala herself.

Let’s not sugarcoat realities — the Filipina tennis players who get wiped out in the Philippine Women’s Open need more support so they can get better training and participate in more regional and international events. While they fought with heart, winning games needs more than just heart and grit.

Hence, the best venue for Filipina tennis players to gain exposure would be a WTA 125 event that can be held outside Metro Manila, perhaps in New Clark City in Tarlac or Cebu City.

And as more Filipina tennis players take part in the WTA 125 event here in the Philippines, this can prompt corporates to give support to them. Just imagine if a major listed corporation adopts one or two promising Filipina tennis players, the same way Eala got backing from BPI and Globe.

But to get the Philippines in the global tennis map, a WTA 250-level event should be non-negotiable. Manila can host the WTA 250 event but the prestige of hosting that tournament can result in competition among possible venues, with corporates and even local governments presenting their best proposals.

Corporates getting into the picture to host two WTA events will be a boon for Philippine tennis, which I believe is still in its “childhood” stage in the country. Some observers can even say that tennis is still in its infancy stage in the Philippines.

As it is now, Philippine corporates have been backing basketball, basketball, and volleyball, and the country hosting two WTA events can prompt them to also give more support to developing local tennis talents and the ecosystem.

In reality, the tennis ecosystem in the Philippines badly needs development and that is evident on how our local bets, except for Eala, getting badly beaten in the recent Philippine Women’s Open.

Eala was fortunate that her parents worked hard to get her trained abroad, including at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain. For her part, Cabrera being based in Australia gave her a better training ground for the sport.

For the record, Cabrera was the first pure Filipina player to take part in the Australian Open. And I would love to see her in the next WTA event in the Philippines, and I am sure she will generate her own “rah rah” crowd here.

In the next months, I hope to hear more good news on the hosting of the next WTA event in the Philippines, and I wish there would be two of them annually.

And who should we thank for providing the spark for Philippine tennis to level up? Eala, of course.

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