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Coco Gauff and Alexandra Eala have been announced as a surprise women's doubles pairing at the 2025 Italian Open. However, the way a particular tennis broadcasting network shared the news didn't go down well with several tennis fans, who criticized the network for hyping up Eala.
19-year-old Eala, hailing from the Philippines, shot to overnight fame with her performances at this year's Miami Open. Having undergone training at the legendary Rafael Nadal's tennis academy in Spain, Eala engineered three shocking upsets in Miami, defeating Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and most notably Iga Swiatek on her way to the semifinals of the WTA 1000 event.
On Wednesday, May 7, it was confirmed that Eala would team up with WTA No. 3 Coco Gauff to play women's doubles in Rome. Tennis Channel shared the news via a post on X (formerly Twitter), which was captioned:
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"Two superstars coming together to maximize their joint slay 🤝"
The prominent American tennis media outlet calling Alexandra Eala a "superstar" wasn't well received by many fans on X.
"Eala is not a super star. Why is she being pushed so hard🤣🤣," a fan wrote.
"Give Alex a little bit of time before dubbing her a ‘superstar’, ok? Love her fight, tenacity, and consistency but I’m not with you on the whole ‘superstar’ thing. Unless the WTA has preordained its future stars and we’re not aware…," commented another.
"Noooooooooo, kiss of death. Let Eala flourish without the hype. Corrupt Tennis Media the worst," another fan chimed in.
"Calling her a superstar this early is a bit too much. She has a potential, but still has a journey ahead," opined one fan.
"TC not be beating the allegations about the excessive hype for Eala. Love the girl but tone it down. I know Gauff played doubles with Montgomery last week and yall didn’t make a fuss," another added.
"This isn’t even a serious post," weighed in yet another fan.
Eala's women's singles campaign in Rome has already ended, with the Filipino suffering a brutal first-round loss.
Coco Gauff's Italian Open doubles partner Alexandra Eala comprehensively defeated in singles 1R
The women's doubles pairing with Coco Gauff gives a new lease of life to Alexandra Eala at the 2025 Italian Open. In the women's singles category, the Filipino suffered a crushing first-round defeat at the hands of a rampant Marta Kostyuk.
The Ukrainian was rock-solid on both her first and second serves against Eala. Kostyuk also engineered an astonishing 18 break-point opportunities, managing to convert six of them to cruise to a dominant 6-0, 6-1 win over the Filipino.
Coco Gauff and Alexandra Eala are set to kickstart their women's doubles campaign in the Italian capital on Friday, May 9, against Alexandra Panova and Fanny Stollar.
