Alex Eala has been on a historic run this year — and it’s paying off.
Twenty-twenty-five has been Alex Eala’s most successful year so far as a professional tennis player. Against all her previous seasons, this year has seen her make some huge moves not just for her career, but for Philippine tennis history as well.
In the 2025 Miami Open, she became the first player from the Philippines to defeat a Grand Slam champion and a top 10 player since the WTA rankings were first established in 1975. She also became the first Filipino player to reach a WTA semifinal, and the first to be ranked within the Top 100 of the WTA Rankings.
By breaking into the Top 100, Alex has also been granted direct entry into the main draws of the Grand Slams of 2025. She competed in Wimbledon and Roland Garros earlier this year, but it was in the US Open where she made history once again, by becoming the first Filipino tennis player to win a Grand Slam match in the Open Era.
These historic records cement her place in Philippine sports history. But what else showcases 2025 as her breakthrough year?
Her earnings.
How do tennis players earn?
Professional tennis players can earn their income from various sources: endorsements and sponsorships from brand deals, financial backing from national federations or private sponsors, and some popular players may even receive appearance fees for participating in certain events.
But their main source of income comes from the prize money they receive from playing tournaments.
In Alex Eala’s earlier years as a professional, she mainly earned from the prize pots of smaller tournaments on the ITF Circuit, which is considered a more developmental tour where younger professionals compete to build their ranking. In 2021, the left-handed Filipina earned around $14,157 from the four singles ITF titles she won that year.
But bigger tournaments obviously have bigger payouts. And with the amount of success she’s seen in the WTA Tour — which is considered a much more prestigious tour in the tennis world — in 2025, where the prize money is much higher, the 20-year-old has also been earning significantly more than she has earned in her professional career thus far.
How much has Eala earned this year?
Alex Eala opened 2025 with a semifinal berth in the WTA 125 Canberra International, where she earned $9,955 for making it to the final four of the competition. From there, she struggled to make deep runs in several of her succeeding tournaments — but still earned around $42,490 from seven other competitions this year, including her appearance in the Australian Open qualifiers.
But then came the Miami Open, a WTA 1000 event where she made her biggest breakthrough and emerged into the spotlight. Here, she overcame three former Grand Slam champions, including World No. 2 Iga Świątek, to make it to the semifinals.
She ultimately lost to Jessica Pegula, but her run to the final four earned her a whopping $332,000, equivalent to around PHP 18,951,224.
Her next major breakthrough came in the WTA 250 Lexus Eastbourne Open, where she made it all the way to the finals. Although she eventually settled for runner-up to Maya Joint after a nail-biting tiebreaker, she still earned a bag of $30,380 from her finals appearance.
But competing in the Grand Slams (which offer the biggest payouts) has always been Alex Eala’s main goal as a professional.
By breaking into the Top 100 this year, Alex earned direct entries into the main draws of Roland Garros — where she made her Grand Slam main draw debut — and Wimbledon. Although she failed to make it past the first round on both occasions, she still took home $84,452 and $89,465 from the French Open and Wimbledon, respectively.
From the US Open, however, she is set to earn even more.
By competing in the first round, she was already guaranteed a payout of $110,000, regardless of the result — but after her historic upset over World No. 14 Clara Tauson, Alex made it to the second round of the tournament, and is now set to earn even more.
With a second round berth, even despite her loss to Cristina Bucsa, the 20-year-old will is set to earn $154,000, equivalent to around PHP 8,790,628, marking her second-biggest payout of 2025 so far.
Shortly after her awe-inspiring run at the US Open, Alex went on to write history yet again for the Philippines. At the WTA 125 Guadalajara Open, she became the first Filipino to win a WTA title, after she defeated Panna Udvardy in three sets. This marked her first WTA singles title win and awarded her $15,500.
Of course, it is important to note that these figures account for her gross earnings and are still subject to being taxed. But still, with all this, Alex Eala has earned more from her success in 2025 than ever before in her career.
*Figures only account for Alex’s performances in singles tournaments and are all based on the WTA website.
Banner image from AFP.