The Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington was all set to welcome the electric pairing of Alexandra Eala and Venus Williams this year in their doubles draw, but the pair’s plan to split their team before the event has put a pin in the organizers’ plans. A day after Williams, Eala spoke about what drove her to the decision to withdraw from doubles.
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“I have so much respect for Venus. I am so grateful for every opportunity that I have to be around her, to learn from her, to hit with her. But I do think this is my first week coming back, and I think that Venus is someone who deserves a partner who can give their all physically, emotionally, mentally when they’re on court with her. I think right now I can only do that for singles,” said Eala in her press conference. “I don’t have the capacity yet to be able to give that in both singles and doubles. I’m really grateful for the opportunity that I had, or have, and hopefully we see more of it in the future.”
Alexandra Eala Will Begin Her Campaign at Washington Against Zheng Qinwen
Having last played on July 6, Eala will begin her North American swing with a first-round encounter against Zheng Qinwen in the first round in Washington. Eala’s hard-court results have not been as high as her results on grass, but she did have some decent results, like reaching the semifinal in Auckland, and having fourth-round finishes at Indian Wells and Miami.
Once ranked as high as No.4 in the world, injuries and a loss of form have seen Zheng Qinwen go down below the top 100 on the WTA Rankings. The Olympic champion has an 11-11 win-loss record this year, with a modest 6-4 mark on hard courts. She did have her best result of the season last week in Athens, where she lost to Barbora Krejcikova in the quarterfinals.
Even though Zheng might have the better technical tools to overpower Eala on a hard court, the Filipino player’s confidence would be sky-high after her grass-court exploits. She is currently ranked No.28 on the WTA Rankings, and with not many points to defend in the upcoming months, Eala could make a real play for the Top 20 if she had a few deep runs on the hard-court events.