Welcome to the latest instalment of Alexandra Eala’s blog. Aged 16, Alex is already making a big impact at professional events and earlier this year won her first pro title. She attracts huge attention in her home country and at the 2020 Roland Garros Junior Championships became the first player from the Philippines to reach the semi-finals of a Junior Grand Slam for 35 years. Alex, who this year received an ITF International Junior Player Grant, currently trains at the Rafa Nadal Academy and will be writing regular pieces for the ITF, providing insight into her tennis journey. Follow her progress here.

The first Junior Grand Slam of the season gets underway tomorrow and I am super-excited to be in Paris and competing at the Roland Garros Junior Championships.

It has been a while since I have played a junior competition, in fact I have only featured in one since I reached the semi-finals here in October, and I intend to do everything I can in order to have a successful week.

It has been important to prepare mentally, as well as physically, for this tournament and by that I mean understanding and acknowledging that it is a different field here in the French capital.

I have mainly played professional tournaments this season and, when I do, I don’t have any pressure on me because I am usually the underdog. Here, I am the No. 2 seed in the girls’ draw and so there is a different emphasis and that’s where mental preparation comes in.

It’s important not to attach too much importance to things like seedings. Regardless of who my opponent is, I just need to go on court and see every encounter as just another match – that’s how I will approach it.

In terms of build-up, it remains different than pre-Covid for obvious reasons but the quarantining period in the hotel gave me the opportunity to work on some school projects I still need to finish.

Earlier this week and before travelling to Paris, I had exams in Spanish, Physiology and Mathematics at the Rafa Nadal Academy and, while they are now done, I still have essays to write. I have a lot to do!

With quarantining, I only managed to get on court on Friday and it has just been a case of preparing as much as possible so I feel right and am ready to go when play starts tomorrow.

As I say, I am really excited for this tournament and being here brings back memories from last year’s Roland Garros when I progressed to the last four and made a bit of history.

By making the semis, I became the first player from the Philippines to contest a semi-final at a Junior Grand Slam for 35 years, since Felix Barrientos at Wimbledon in 1985.

I have written about this previously, but I could not believe the level of support I received back home and I still struggle to comprehend it now, in all honesty. I didn’t realise its magnitude until after the tournament but, when I saw it and it dawned on me just how big it was, I was amazed.

Not for a second did I ever imagine that the backing would be as significant as it was and regular readers of my blog will know how grateful I am for that. It makes me even prouder than I already am to represent my country.

This is one of the major reasons why I want to do well this week. Being the only Filipina in the girls’ draw, in the entire tournament in fact, is massive.

Furthermore, if I was younger and I saw a Filipina tennis player competing at Roland Garros I know that it would be a big inspiration and I am trying to be that for young kids in the Philippines. That’s really important to me.

It would mean the world to do well this week and win a Junior Grand Slam singles title. I won the doubles at last year’s Australian Open alongside Indonesia’s Priska Madelyn Nugroho and remember how that felt.

That was fantastic but winning the singles here would be huge. I don’t want to think that far ahead but it would mean so much and definitely give me a lot of confidence going forward in my career.

When you think of the history of Roland Garros also, to triumph at a place where so many amazing players have won and competed, sharing the same experiences as them, would be an honour.

Being a third-year scholar at the Rafa Nadal Academy, there is plenty of motivation for Roland Garros, with Rafa having won a record 13 Grand Slams here and bidding for a 14th.

In addition, I was fortunate enough to have a practice session with defending Roland Garros women’s singles champion Iga Swiatek earlier this year, so the inspiration is there.

I also always recall thinking when Simona Halep won the women’s singles here in 2018, ‘I can’t imagine how you must be feeling in this moment’, and to have an insight into that, albeit at a Junior Grand Slam, would be incredible.

However, as I have said, I won’t be looking too far ahead and will be taking it one match at a time, starting with my first-round clash tomorrow. The next match is always the most important.

The day before the start of a Junior Grand Slam is always exciting but one of focus and I will look forward to updating you on my Roland Garros experience in my next blog.

Before I go, however, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the people who are supporting me and willing me to succeed, especially back home in the Philippines. It means so much.