Alexandra Eala’s decision to represent the Philippines at the Asian Games rather than fulfill her mandatory commitment at the China Open has sparked fresh criticism of the WTA. This time coming from the Tennis Weekly Podcast, where host Chris Kneebone did not hold back on how the situation looks for the tour.

“It’s not a good look for the WTA. I do not like that,” Kneebone said on the podcast. “I also think when she’s such a great ambassador for the game, and it is an event like this, it should be on a case-by-case basis. You shouldn’t be giving people a fine for playing for their country.” 

He directly referenced the $7,500 fine that Aryna Sabalenka received for her US Open final meltdown. That incident took place right before this news about Eala, in which Sabalenka broke her racket and cursed at a court-side camera after losing to Elena Rybakina. Kneebone compared that case to the approximately $10,000 fine Eala risks facing. 

“That fine is bigger than what Sabalenka got for her US Open outburst,” he added. “So it’s a big fine as far as these things go. It could also mean that you’d be docked some ranking points, because a mandatory would be missing from your mandatory tournaments that you have to play. So I don’t like it, and I think it’s not a good precedent. I’m team Eala on this one.”

Currently ranked World No. 18, since she qualifies for the main draw, WTA tour rules require her to play in the Grand Slams and nine other WTA 1000 tournaments.

The Tennis Weekly discussion follows a similar reaction on the Nothing Major podcast, where former ATP pros Steve Johnson, John Isner, and Sam Querrey all weighed in against the idea of fining her. 

Johnson called it “the dumbest thing” the WTA could do, Isner argued the tour should simply waive the fine and the point penalty outright, and Querrey pointed to Eala’s growing box-office pull as leverage she could use against the WTA if pushed, joking she could threaten to skip more Asian events entirely rather than accept the punishment quietly.

Before Eala goes into the Asian Games as top seed, though, she faced an early third-round exit yesterday at the Singapore Open.

A tough Singapore exit

The criticism comes at an awkward moment for Eala on the court. After a first-round bye as the third seed, she lost her tournament opener at the Singapore Open, falling to Tatiana Prozorova after squandering a set and a 4-2 lead, her first defeat to a player ranked outside the top 100 in over a year. 

The second-round exit doesn’t translate well after a tough loss in the third round at the US Open.

Eala has become one of the tour’s biggest draws over the past year, filling outer courts to overcrowding at the Australian Open before eventually being upgraded to Centre Court at Wimbledon and Arthur Ashe at the US Open. 

The other co-host on the podcast made a sharp financial argument, suggesting the WTA is already finding it difficult to make ends meet and that alienating a player of Eala’s commercial value is digging a hole for the organization itself. Hence, waiving off the Filipino’s penalty might be the smarter move in terms of their budget concerns as well.