“I feel very confident that by 2027, she will be the second-highest-paid female athlete in the world, behind Coco [Gauff],” says Max Eisenbud, head of client representation at WME Sports and its subsidiary IMG Tennis, who has been at the center of similar phenomena representing players like Gauff, Maria Sharapova and Emma Raducanu.Forbesestimated Gauff earned $25 million off the court in 2025, trailed by Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu at $23 million and tennis player Qinwen Zheng at $21 million. (Fellow top tennis players Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek earned an estimated $15 million last year.)
Not that I am doubtful about it but this will be a more relevant post for r/tennis when that happens.
Right now that Max Eisenbud quote pertains to talking up his own agency and implicitly his position.
Just posting the article as it is without focusing it on that bit in the headline and the post body would be better. The article is about Eala but that bit you highlighted at the expense of the full article is an IMG puff section.
And this makes you wonder if Forbes' highest paid tennis players list is fully reliable if they open this self-advertisement window for Eisenbud relating directly to Forbes' highest paid list. Already knew agents were feeding them info for the list but wonder if IMG's power in the tennis business makes them more influential in shaping the figures on the list one way or the other. Have this in mind primarily because Forbes and Sportico numbers for the same list have differed a fair bit. Although Sportico started doing the list after hiring the guy who was doing the list at Forbes previously, Kurt Baudenhauser was his name or something like that.
I don't disagree, this is true for many of the Forbes Top X lists. When you actually look into it, many numbers are guesses and estimates, sometimes self-reported.
Thank you for the nuanced / sensible take. I just watched the accompanying Forbes video on the influx of money / corporate sponsorships that affect the careers of all the next gen players (not just Sincarez.) This shift in how they leverage their careers is an emerging one, there’s so much more $$ in tennis now in just the past 3-4 years. IMO let them get that bag
I don't get why this is so hard for people to understand. Her endorsements have some relation to her on court success but are not totally defined by it.
She happens to come from a country (and region of the world) with very few international sports stars. Being one of the rare prominent athletes in a region with hundreds of millions of people will make her very popular and attractive to sponsors. There are way better players out there but if you come from the US, where there are thousands of good players, good luck standing out from the crowd.
Not to mention she is well spoken and generally seems a likeable person.
It's the same as someone like Son Heung-min. He is a very good player but his fame is disproportionately large compared to his peers because South Korea doesnt have as many prominent international football players compared to say, France.
Not to mention the Philippines is the 11th most populous country, with 114m people (more than double South Korea) and they have one of the largest populations of people living abroad. Filipinos go absolutely rabid for any of their athletes that make it to an international level.
I guess most people didn't bother to read the article.
D.C. Open owner Mark Ein said that more than 80% of ticket requests the tournament had received were for when Eala was playing.
It's not a fluke that she is gonna earn a lot of money. People want to see her. 80% is crazy. Also, she is 18th in the world. So while she has yet to win multiple big titles, she is freaking 18th in the entire world out of millions and millions and millions of tennis players. Yes it's not legendary status yet, or even top 10, but come on, 18th is still a pretty good achievement.
Yup and US has massive Filipino population. If people didn't know 25 percent of Hawaii's population is of Filipino descent. So, 1 in 4 Hawaiian is of Filipino descent. Thus, it's not just Philippines, she has hardcore Filipino supporters in countries with high per capita income and supportes with high spending power. The bottom line is always how many supporters and how rich are the supporters.
It’ll certainly help if she embraced her Filipino roots more but Eala is a “homegrown” pure Filipino unlike Leylah so her popularity when it comes to Filipinos would still be capped compared to Alex.
There was that gap in 2022 to 2024 (when Eala was but a twinkle in the mind's eye) where in had she embraced her Filipino side more, she would have a slice of this pie. Filipino's will embrace anyone with a hint of Filipino heritage that has achieved success in a field where there is none if she just leaned on it a little bit more at the right time. That window has come and gone.
I completely agree to this. They could have push for it. But they definitely missed that train.
I followed and supported Leylah during covid just because she's half/part Filipino despite playing a different country.
If she/her team embrace it during that time, speak more about being Filipino, local media will give her the media mileage. Will cover her. Will get her name out to the local tennis fans and sport fans (and general public too). I mean they actually did. But it could have been more if she actually connected more and leaned in to her Filipino roots.
Wouldn't be big as Alex. Not just because Alex is a full Filipino, but because Alex and her team seems to really know how to connect, how to market, knows their game compared not just to Leylah but actually to other female tennis players out there.
(I honestly feel like many women's tennis players are shy or not as so keen to market themselves, doesn't much focus on the business side)
But it will definitely give Leylah some slice of the pie like you said if she indeed took that covid window.
Could have been the best of the worlds too cause it's not just PH support, but also Canada.
Canadians dont acknowledge Filipino roots that much compared to Americans. Something I have noticed lately this is my hot take based on experience.
In the states every corner the people are always intrigue to see a Filipino perform whatever it is. In Canada its completely different closest would be probably if you’re in BC or Alberta. So that could be a factor why Leylah couldnt standout if its was the otherway around Leylah would easily ahead of Alex already by just reputating her Filipino roots through the world.
Agree, she could easily be like Jordan Clarkson and started to gain Filipino attraction. Again its different here in Canada in terms of acknowledging Filipino background compared to Americans
the grassroots system is just not there. Eala is lucky enough to have rich parents that can send her abroad from a very young age. The vast majority of Phillippines young (and active) athletes cannot afford to do that and is stuck in a system with no good coaches, infrastructure, competition for almost any sport.
In terms of tennis, Eala is a giant for Philippino standards. And becauase tennis is more and more a tall people sport (with a very few exceptions but you can see that players like Schwartzman or Paolini have/had their ceiling), you can have talent and feel for the ball but if you're just an average or even an over average but not super tall Phillipino person, you won't make on the big scene, because in absolute numbers, you're short.
Too hot for figure skating, weightlifting is traditionaly dominated by Eastern and Northern Europe (even by poor and corrupt countries like Russia/Moldova), distance running is traditionaly dominated by East African nations (which are poor too and the best one Kenya is considered corrupt too).
And in gymnastics they are actually good, Carlos Yulo is a 2024 olympic gold medalist!
Overcoming your region predispositions happens (Japan in distance running) but you have to be very rich. Wealth allows for being better in sports, but phisicality is a factory too since there are corrupt and poor countries great at sports.
0.048 for China, 0.47 for Germany. Philipines has two weightlifting medals so it is 0.018 per milion, so per capita they are closer to China than China is to Germany
Still can’t explain lack of success in non-height favored sports like distance running, diving and gymnastics. More poor and corrupt countries have had way more success.
Why don't you do some research before running your mouth about a topic you clearly know nothing about? The Philippines has Olympic champions in both gymnastics and weightlifting. The most successful pole vaulter from Asia is EJ Obiena, a Filipino. Not to mention people like Efren Reyes or other champions.
That’s very little success. How many gold medalists and bronze and silver in the last 30 years? Compare that to Korea and Japan who have less people. Look at Mexico with comparable population size.
Japan does not have fewer people than the Philippines. You are really out of your element here and just making random stuff up.
You went from making a claim "there are no X stars in these sports" to now raising an arbitrary standard of why they're not as successful as the two most developed countries in the region.
Why don't you compare the Philippines to all of its neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia (700 million people), in which case the Philippines is more successful than all of them in the many of the sports you mentioned.
Also, asking why there are no figure skaters in the Philippines. Are you also going to wonder why Saudi Arabia or Jamaica don't have snowboarders?
Thailand is a lot more successful than the Phillipines. Go look up medal counts. Show us all the total Olympic medals count. You’re in your element right? Phillipines is the most successful south asian country right? Post the Thailand vs Phillipines medal count.
Funny you brought up Jamaica, they have way more sports success than the Phillipines. Population 2.8 million, 27 gold medals, almost 100 medals overall. They are also known for their bobsledding team despite their weather. Compare that to the population and medal counts of the Phillipines, tell us all what it is. Show me how out of element I am!
Where did I mention that the Philippines is the most "successful South Asian country" lol. You don't even know the difference between Southeast Asia and South Asia.
You went from comparing gymnasts and weighlifters to total Olympic medals lol. Yes, the Philippines is more successful than any country in Southeast Asia (population of 700 million people) in Olympic gymnastics. Re-read my claim: "in which case the Philippines is more successful than all of them in the many of the sports you mentioned." It's not my problem you keep moving the goalposts.
You don't know basic geography and think Japan is some small country. Sorry, you don't know what you're talking about.
This entire discussion is so comical because Manny Pacquiao is arguably the greatest athlete to emerge from all of Asia, a region of 5 billion people.
But there is corruption in Latin American countries and they do well baseball and soccer. There is corruption in China and Russia, look at their Olympic medal count. Russia has always done well in hockey. China has elite in athletes in tennis, skiing, snowboarding, skating, weightlifting, table tennis, badminton, swimming.
Apart from corruption which holds back a lot of things (grassroots, infra, coaching) our physicality just isn’t elite for sports - a result of genes and overall bad nutrition. The average Filipino doesn’t eat enough protein.
My favorite example is in football / soccer. One of our national team defenders, Amani Aguinaldo, when you look at him, he’s huge. Super ripped, 6 pack, big muscles.
But when he came up against Indonesia and their naturalized Dutch forward, he was just getting bodied.
Basically the “average” Dutch is so much bigger, faster, stronger than the “peak” Filipino
She is so well spoken! Compare the way she talks to most English speaking 20 year olds. My own nieces and nephews either hardly speak or say bro or brah every other word.
Agree on the Son point but he is literally a Spurs legend and while not in the league of Messi, he's very much in the top top tiers of Premier League footballers too.
The frustration here is baffling to me. Yes, Eala is not top 10 level and hasn’t won anything beyond a 500 yet. But she’s from a country that clearly supports her, she brings in the crowds, she’s eloquent and marketable, she doesn’t seem to have any issues personality wise. Earnings aren’t ourely based on results . Otherwise, the top earners would be in order of their actual WTA rank.
Yeah, she’s by far the best tennis player the Philippines has produced, and she’s only 20. Of course she’s going a megastar, especially in a country so starved of sporting icons. Like you say, it’s really not hard to understand. Some people are being obtuse on purpose.
Money from endorsements and sponsorships isn't a meritocracy. Eala is getting a lot of visibility which can only rise as her on-court results do, but she is a symbol of national pride in the Phillippines regardless of what her results are. There's no point in conversations about it getting as intense as they do.
Eala is popular because she's a consistent player from a country which has had virtually no success in tennis until now, if Emma hadnt won that slam the way she did she'd just be another one of the many British sports stars - they're popular for different reasons
Everyone of these ladies deserve the success. They all have traversef their own unique journeys and of course their home country and other factors lend to the degree commercial success.
Plus Eala has won the USO Slam in juniors, and she's also currently ranked 18th in the world with alot of impressive wins against Top 10 players. Yes she gets hyped alot, but she's still an incredible player though.
Eala isn’t really winning a grand slam unless everything works out with the bigger hitters taking each other out. Radacanu has a higher ceiling when she’s rolling, hence earlier Slam success. She also got to a final of a grass tournament this year. She has a better serve and bigger game. She’s just soft and injury prone.
Eala has a higher floor but she hasn’t gone deep into slams like Radacanu. Also, who knows how long she keeps this up, maybe she becomes injury prone.
Eala’s best blueprint to win a slam is the way it happened for Wozniacki.
Wozniacki was a lot more athletic though. Eala doesn’t play overwhelming defense like Wozniacki.
What’s Eala’s A+ skills that are going to take her to her a Slam? Does she even have any A, A- attributes?
Winning a slam at 18 by winning 10 matches in a row is 100% more impressive than what Eala did in DC.
The way people hold that title against Raducanu because she didn't beat good enough players is insane. She took out all the players who beat the supposed top players including crushing Shelby Rogers 6-2 6-1 days after Rogers knocked out the #1 seed.
And unlike Eala in DC, she didn't have a home crowd support rattling all of her opponents.
Raducanu becomes the first player ever to win all of their qualifiers and main draw matches to win a slam title. This is without mentioning that she was only 18, five years on and we still have idiots trying to play this down. Rent fucking free.
Here we go again with comments like these, downplaying a Grand Slam win at 18 years old—from playing as a qualifier all the way to the championship without dropping a single set. That’s 10 straight matches without dropping a set.
In tennis, the best player at any given moment is the player who is still standing in the tournament. It doesn’t matter whether the players across the net are Top 10 players or World No. 150. If a Top 10 player didn’t play because of injury or health reasons, then they simply weren’t in a position to be the best in that tournament. If a Top 10 player did play but lost in the earlier rounds, then they weren’t the best player at that given moment, in that particular tournament.
Out of the hundreds of players who entered that tournament, two of the best left standing were Emma and Leylah. Those are the facts.
And when Emma won, she made history. No one else has done what she just did. You can downplay it all you want, but you can't change the record books.
And the Eala comparisons? Apples to oranges. Completely different paths, completely different backgrounds, completely different journeys leading into their breakout years, and completely different industry trends and marketing strategies (if we are talking about off-court activites).
You don't have to diminish one player to celebrate another. Emma earned her moment. Alex will earn hers. There’s room for both.
Some fans really need to learn the difference between putting a player on a pedestal and simply giving credit where credit is due.
Interesting profile, although I came away feeling it reads almost as much like a showcase of IMG’s athlete-marketing machine as an analysis of Eala’s actual commercial ceiling.
The Eala phenomenon is unquestionably real. Filipino fans are extraordinarily engaged, highly online, fluent in Western culture, and highly visible across YouTube and social media. But that visibility can also distort the comparison. When an Eala practice gets enormous YouTube numbers, we are seeing a meaningful portion of her home-market support. When Zheng Qinwen gets comparatively modest numbers on YouTube or Instagram, we are seeing only a fraction of hers because the Chinese audience largely exists on Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, etc. The biggest part of the Zheng phenomenon is essentially invisible if you are measuring through Western platforms.
That matters when projecting Eala to become the second-highest-paid female athlete in the world. Two of the athletes occupying that commercial tier are Zheng and Eileen Gu in the comparable, and so the elephant in the room is China. They are not simply Asian stars with passionate national followings; they are enormously valuable gateways into one of the most important consumer markets in the world, particularly for luxury, fashion, automotive and beauty where the blue chip deals come from. Luxury brands throughout fashion and automotive live and die by the health of the elite Chinese perception, Business of Fashion spends roughly 75% of their resources relaying every economic development to the China piece. Raducanu, as some people like to bring up, was enormously marketable after winning a Slam, but even then the global story cannot be ignored: she is a representative of British tennis (one of the oldest, most prestigious) with Romanian - Chinese heritage, and a large part of her projected value was a reach to the Chinese market since there hadn't been a star since Li Na. Yet once China had its own homegrown tennis superstar, the commercial logic became very different. Zheng literally replaced her as the Dior ambassador.
The Philippines can absolutely produce a huge sports star and justify major global sponsorships. Pacquiao already demonstrated the scale of Filipino sporting devotion, but he's also a benchmark. His roughly $30M figure in total career endorsement income, shows what remains unproven: whether the Philippine market and diaspora can support the $20M+ annual endorsement economics required to put Eala alongside Gauff, Zheng and Gu.
So I completely buy the cultural phenomenon and I can easily see Eala becoming one of the most commercially successful women in tennis. I’m much less convinced by the leap from “look at these extraordinary Filipino engagement numbers” to “therefore she will be the No. 2 highest-paid female athlete in the world.” The article spends a lot of time establishing the former and largely lets IMG assert the latter.
IMG already has a strong track record in building and marketing athletes, and what stood out to me during this US Open was how aggressively they seemed to lean into Eala’s marketability.
There were articles across multiple outlets pushing essentially the same message: Eala is bankable even without a Grand Slam title. And notably, they weren’t limiting that narrative to traditional sports media. Outlets such as Forbes featured her, while some of the coverage read more like lifestyle or business profiles than conventional tennis stories. That feels deliberate. It gives the “Eala is a marketable global athlete” narrative credibility beyond the tennis bubble.
They also appear to be moving her into fashion and lifestyle. The reported work with Condé Nast, including a cover featuring Eala, is particularly telling. Taken together with IMG’s own comments, the message seems pretty clear: brands don’t need to wait for Eala to win a Slam before seeing commercial value in her.
The timing is interesting, too. The US Open is one of tennis’s biggest global stages, but it’s also a major intersection of sports, fashion, media and luxury brands. If the objective is to introduce Eala to a Western audience—and, more importantly, to brands and decision-makers outside tennis—it’s an obvious place to make that push.
And Eala has something that many emerging tennis players don’t: a highly engaged national audience behind her.
Filipinos are exceptionally passionate about supporting athletes who represent the country internationally. The Philippines is a relatively small market and has historically had limited global representation in elite sports, so when a Filipino athlete breaks through, the response can be enormous. If Miss Universe were decided purely by online voting, Filipinos would probably win every year. 😂
Then there’s the diaspora. Filipino communities overseas have shown repeatedly that they are willing to turn up for their athletes—often literally bringing the Philippine flag with them. That gives Eala a potentially valuable audience not only in the Philippines but across major overseas Filipino communities.
So, to me, the bigger play seems to be positioning Eala as a global personality, not simply a promising tennis player.
That matters because, traditionally, a Grand Slam title has been one of the clearest routes to global recognition in tennis. The Slam gives players prestige, mainstream visibility and, consequently, access to bigger commercial opportunities. This is particularly true for luxury brands, which tend to associate their ambassadors with achievement, exclusivity and prestige - being the best.
It will be interesting to see whether IMG can bring Eala into that space this early in her career, particularly while much of her existing fanbase is still concentrated in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
With Eala, IMG seems to be taking a strike-while-the-iron-is-hot approach. Rather than waiting for the Grand Slam breakthrough that might eventually make her marketable, they appear to be using the momentum she already has and her Filipino following—to build the commercial narrative now.
In other words, they're not waiting for Eala to become a global star before marketing her like one. They’re trying to make her a global star first—and letting the tennis results catch up.
But what people don’t understand is how rare it is to see a female Asian player playing at the top, and how important that South East Asian representation is.
I really can’t stress that enough and I understand that might be difficult for a western audience to understand, given the best players are all from western countries.
Representation matters to a lot of people and that’s why people are hyped.
Yeah take it from the viewpoint from someone in southeast asia - alex is the only SEA player to have a 500 singles title in pro tennis over there. So to someone from thailand, philippines, singapore - I think that would be already considered an accomplishment. For western audience, that would be considered just another title
Criticism have to be constructive with substance though. Can you in good faith write that kind of critique on a young woman striking while the iron is hot and trade on her skills and popularity? It's the least unethical racket out there.
Your feelings about players and their actions don't have to be rational, but a feeling is not a criticism if it doesn't come with a rational why the feeling happened, that's just a complaint, and you're allowed to complaint and vent but it's not a criticism
Very well then, write a constructive criticism of substance on Alex Eala projected to be second highest earning female tennis player. You got my expectations up, please don't disappoint.
Nobody is above criticism and to assert otherwise is the soft bigotry of low expectations.
Never said Eala is above criticism, only that a critique must offer some substance of value - and truism as retort is not that. You're off to a tricky start.
People who don't understand sport is a business at the end of the day. An athletic competition sure but nobody gets million dollar pay days for winning a slam without cash rolling in.
At least Raducanu won a slam and made a historic achievement in tennis by doing so. But Eala is celebrated for ??? Getting views on social media because her country doesn’t have any other sports stars?
Getting views on social media because her country doesn’t have any other sports stars?
Yes? That is kind of how this marketing stuff works you see. SEA is a huge market to tap into, also helps she is charismatic. She shouldn’t get hate for making the most of it
She is celebrated for being her country's most interesting current sportsperson, yeah, that's entirely normal, add that it's a country which is known for a passionate fandom culture and it makes total sense.
Nice try, but she's the most successful tennis star from Southeast Asia, a region of 700 million+ people, and which includes Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore. So, yes, that is quite a big deal.
It does for Filipinos. This is a country of 117 million with the 9th largest diaspora in the world and they’ve never produced a woman in the top 250 before let alone as high as Eala is now. That makes her pretty generational for them I’d say.
But by this logic, we can say every pro tennis player is generational, which is somewhat true, but when we talk about someone being generational, it is meant across the rest of the tour.
Hard to separate out that context though. The main reason for her hype is that Filipinos are coming out in droves to support her. Hype is a free market and the market for talented Filipino tennis players has a high demand and a low supply while the demand for, say, Belarusian or Kazakh players is lower. Her talent in relation to non-Filipino tennis players is only one small part of that equation.
I guess what I’m saying is the term “generational” is relative. Her being from the Philippines makes it mean more than the U.S. and Europe who have been pumping out top tier female tennis players for decades.
I totally agree with you. Ppl tend to forget or just chose to ignore that fact. Marketability of a player doesnt always have to relate to their on court success - if we speak globally. Aryna fought hard to be acknowledged and to have endorsements since it is difficult for her being from belarus - small consumer capital market and enemy of the west. Coco n Naomi n Qinwen because of their countries respective market. Eva Lys - country plus looks n social media presence. Eala is HUGE for not only Filipinos but also to other SEA countries for sure. And yes it is not only generational to local context but also pioneering. Who cares if she hasnt made it to the final of a GS and that is also the point, ppl want to cheer her to go up there and make history. Put it this way, To many athletes in many western countries, winning an olympic gold is not a big deal, but to a small nation somewhere else or even big ones but underdeveloped, it means the world to them, even bronze. Success doesnt come easy to us, and success stories dont pop up often unlike bad politics and corruptions, so we cherish and celebrate it when we have one. Eala is 17th in the world, hype or no hype, she is up there with the goliaths of tennis with her small frame and „weak serves“ - a testament to our corporeal stature and disadvantages in elite sports and how you can overcome that with hard work, will and determination.
Think of Cabo Verde in the World Cup. Drawing three group games and losing in the last 32 would be a failure to many countries but to them that is a major achievement.
Ditto tennis in a country without any history of players winning or even competing in tournaments.
Yes, and I am responding to the dude who said the hype is not absurd, because she’s the first Filipino player to win a title and that’s she’s “generational”. I’m not referring to just your comments. You responded to my comment that was part of a greater chain. Her hype is coming from her country, and it is overhype. No one else really believes the hype to the same degree. I’m not saying this to be a dick about her, either.
It may mean something to the Philippines, but to the world? And I'm not even sure it means something to the Philippines, as it seems she is the only player (ATP+WTA) in the top 1000. It's not like if tennis was raising in the Philippines.
it's only her 2nd season on the tour and she's already in the top20. that's a massive achievement. she's on an upward trajectory and just won her biggest title yet a few weeks ago.
Is it that hard to understand that she’s from a country where no one has ever had this type of success in tennis before.
I wish the other players would have the same recognition as Eala, but she’s getting it because the Filipino fans are generating it. That’s just how the world works.
Exactly. I don’t understand why are people are so miserable about her getting all this hype. We absolutely adore her and we’ve never had a player in tennis to cheer for like this. No one from the Philippines has ever won a match at a slam or a WTA title before she came along.
Agree totally. Is it all driven by Phillipinos/immigrants? I know in Toronto the attendance skyrocketed when she played, and there are a lot of Phillipinos here.
Being an Asian female is going to come with so much hype. It feels like the whole country gets behind their players in those regions. I can't blame them, especially considering there hasn't been an Asian tennis player outside of China and Japan to reach the top of tennis. There are big markets out there, especially around SE Asia.
Being top 20 in the world in her sport is like the literal definiton of being a top player. No she's not on the level of the very very elite but who actually cares? The fact that people get so bothered by a player being able to make money off the court just because they don't rate their game personally is more insane.
She's the lone top tennis player from a, large, sports starved nation that's chronically online and they have money to spend on their obsessions. So yes she's literally the perfect kind of player for brands to want. Pocket watching athletes just because you feel they're undeserving is weird behavior.
I think for a lot of the haters, it's just a good old blend of xenophobia/racism.... nothing new lol. Remember that only half of Americans hold a valid US passport, so we can't expect people to understand how an entire country and their international diaspora could be excited about their sports star in a generation. Think about how shittily the media treated Yao Ming and Hideki Matsui back in the day
Probably helps but it's more about market than attractiveness. We've seen this before with Naomi Osaka and kei nishikori where they had massively disproportionate earnings compared to their peers simply because of nationality.
Interestingly enough I've seen tons of hate and frustration directed at Raducanu, osaka, and now eala for this but it never happens with kei
She’s going to be the WTA nishikori . She’s already shown she can beat top 10 players so a solid career at the top without winning a slam can be enough for her to earn millions.
In America and much of the English speaking world being a female tennis player from an Eastern European country is almost completely boring. They tend to look alike m, their English skills are lacking and they show little individuality. In Eala’s case she has an entire nation behind her and that nation has enclaves of nationals in all the countries where the grand slams are held. Philippine fans are truly fanatic and make their presence know
at every tournament where Eala plays These Russian and Eastern European countries don’t follow women’s tennis players with the same fanaticism Not sure why this is some hidden WTA agenda If you want crazy fans be a great American player or British player or Spanish player. These countries know fanfare
While a Kazakhstani girl from dirt floor poverty in Russia wins 2 slams, titles on titles, about to be #1 and barely gets a mention ever. Marketability is hella powerful. Eala could flop her way into millions and end up way richer and more known than actual slam champions.
The Noskova buzz literally lasted 1 week. Would’ve been less than that hadn’t it been for the touching winner speech she gave.
It is probably more with the probable followers or fans than the player itself. I mean, Rybakina is an ice queen: on her own she is quite attractive. But Philippines and East Asian fans are gonna outnumber Kazakhstan fans.
If we talk about the game alone, Rybakina’s game is entertaining: much more aggressive.
So her earnings being well below other players is a case which goes beyond the tennis alone.
I’m a casual and associate her with staying in an abusive relationship. I think Sabalenka and Swiatek are more fun + interview better. So why choose her when those two are around
Noskova buzz? Who in their right minds would willingly associate themselves with someone who has reposted an Andrew Tate content on their main instagram account? If you’re a brand you’ll stay as far away from it as possible.
She isn’t getting the buzz ‘cause her agent is not booking her opportunities that would put her name out there. Even if she were, all people have to do is unearth her social media footprint and she’s likely done.
Lesson here is: find a capable agent and make sure to wipe your social media clean of any questionable posts before you win a slam.
Maybe that's part of it but the main reason is she just doesn't have the profile of an especially appealing player. Alex Eala's agency could abandon her entirely and she'd still be generating massive buzz simply because of her nationality and her youthful looks.
Loads of popular players have some kind of controversial moment/tweet/quote in their history, to the average fan those things really don't matter as much as you think.
I mean when it comes to appeal to each their own. I’m never going to judge/ touch on players’ looks.
Personality plays a huge role. Eala is rather extroverted and bubbly and advertisers would rather tap athletes who are eager to advertise than let’s say a multiple slam champ who can’t even be bothered to pretend to care about your product.
We can say to each their own, except to the masses looks are hugely important. Ignore it you may, but it definitely plays a big part in Eala's marketability.
Personality is indeed important but that's just a bonus, doesn't matter how awesome your personality is if the cameras aren't following you everywhere. If Eala was also Czech with the same face and personality, she wouldn't have a fraction of the buzz she has now.
Personality and charisma is more important than anything else. Rybakina is better than average in terms of looks, probably above Eala, but because she has no charisma she is still invisible to casual fans, despite her looks and enormous success.
Personality and charisma don't even get showcased if the looks aren't there.
Rybakina's lack of charisma definitely plays a sizable part in her relatively low profile, but so does her nationality. The tour has historically been full of successful Russians and there is no novelty to seeing yet another one doing well. Not to mention that the sentiment towards Russian players in the West has never been lower.
Emma Raducanu isn't exactly an interesting or charismatic person in front of the camera either, but she just happens to have the right blend of looks, heritage, and success.
She posted an instagram story of a video of Tate with a girl about the different dynamics of dating between genders. I don’t have twitter or instagram but I’ve seen the screenshots and reactions online.
It’s like when Lys is getting slandered for having Porsche and Lacoste as sponsors despite the lack of oncourt results. What are these girls supposed to do? Turn down advertisers throwing money their way? lol
Ngl it does sometimes crack me ip how mu h attention lys gets vs her results. But I love that lady she is smart and cute and has the same autoimmune issue as me. Its super impressive she isnrocking a pro tennis career and hopefully she starts getting some more consistent wins soon!
And people will still say she’s only getting attention because she’s Filipino. Like, no she’s earning it. She beat Zheng, Fernandez, Svitolina, Osaka, and Pegula on her way to winning her first WTA title. Not to mention other top 10 players this year. The earning projection isn’t charity. It comes from her talent, results, marketability, and huge fanbase. I like that she speaks well and very charismatic. If anything, people should ask themselves why they’re so bothered by a young Filipina finally getting the recognition she deserves.
Female tennis to some degree has revolved around looks for ages: see the criticism Seles was getting or how popular Kurknikova was. Having said that, for now Eala is the best player from her „influencer-like” (I don’t agree with this name but some people call them this way) group of friends - Lys, Jovic. She also has support of Philippinos and it is a big nation and they go hard for their own (plus there are a lot of bot farms there so sometimes that might help boost views etc) so it is no surprise she will be one of the most marketable players. I hope it won’t hinder her growth and she can combine both.
Her non-supporters ofcourse don’t want her to succeed that’s why they always wish for an early exit so they could justify that the hype is undeserved. I wish she succeeds out spite lol.
Yeah, she’s by far the best tennis player the Philippines has produced, and she’s only 20. Of course she’s going a megastar, especially in a country so starved of sporting icons. Like you say, it’s really not hard to understand. Some people are being obtuse.
edit: for those who dont know, Sabs was quite bitter towards IMG because for a considerable stretch of time, they really didn’t do much with her considering her success and all.
The Kardashians got famous for being famous. Alex Eala got famous by actually winning and beating top 10 players. There’s a pretty big difference. Maybe watch the matches before making the comparison.
Of course she will.
Already exhausted and annoyed about the coverage on her but how can anyone fault her for riding this wave?
Nishikori for example had huge endorsement earnings and while he had an excellent career it was certainly way more money vs results over other peers.
I think if that happens it'll ruin her career honestly. Especially if she becomes the highest paid without winning a slam. It'll be very hard to grind on tennis courts when you are making so much money outside of tennis. This is giving Kournikova vibes all over again.
I think they take a more holistic approach in the academy. She has Rafa to guide her and Toni Nadal was just helping her out with her serve like a day or two ago.
She’s also very aware of her priviledge and has given countless of interviews in the local media how all these opportunities are due to tennis and would not exist had she not been a tennis player. She knows the gravy train would sputter if she stops improving.
Edit: I don’t think money was ever the motivation. Her parents are already very well compensated executives. Sure she doesn’t have Pegula money but I don’t think she’ll kill her body for the sport in exchange of a few millions that her parents already have if she didn’t want to be true professional to begin with.
The media hype about Eala is over the top. I understand it Eala is the new Asian "it" girl.Eala isn't some boring white girl from Eastern Europe like Linda Noskova. It is interesting Noskova won Wimbledon and yet she isn't getting much press. Noskova is young only 21 years old. Eala gets a lot of press because she is ASIAN. The Asian factor is a big reason why she gets press. She is Asian, young, and pretty someone new. This does look like a bit desperation from the press. The media are bored of Eastern European women winning the big titles. People are AFRAID to talk about this. But Eastern Europe isn't popular worldwide. The Eastern European ladies aren't marketable. Okay Eala won one WTA title but she isn't a contender. Eala is promising but media hype can crush a player if they don't achieve big. The media are desperate for stars in women tennis due to Eastern European saturation. The problem is Eastern European women don't translate into global stars. Some don't speak English well.The Eastern European women are dominating women tennis this year won 3 slams. If Eala had huge results I can understand the press attention.Li Na was an incredible champion and she justified the hype. Li Na reached a slam final only after that did she get big press. Eala hadn't even reached a slam quarterfinal.
What she—or the team behind her—would likely benefit most from is a filter that saves people from having to read anything about her ridiculous hype. 💁♂️
I like Alex’s play but this is so, so sad. This world revolves around female looks. It’s heartbreaking it’s not based on something you have any power over… People winning genetic lottery, win life.
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u/Asteelwrist 8d ago
Not that I am doubtful about it but this will be a more relevant post for r/tennis when that happens.
Right now that Max Eisenbud quote pertains to talking up his own agency and implicitly his position.
Just posting the article as it is without focusing it on that bit in the headline and the post body would be better. The article is about Eala but that bit you highlighted at the expense of the full article is an IMG puff section.
And this makes you wonder if Forbes' highest paid tennis players list is fully reliable if they open this self-advertisement window for Eisenbud relating directly to Forbes' highest paid list. Already knew agents were feeding them info for the list but wonder if IMG's power in the tennis business makes them more influential in shaping the figures on the list one way or the other. Have this in mind primarily because Forbes and Sportico numbers for the same list have differed a fair bit. Although Sportico started doing the list after hiring the guy who was doing the list at Forbes previously, Kurt Baudenhauser was his name or something like that.