OF ALL the appreciation posts sent Alex Eala’s way, Rafa Nadal’s stood out as the simplest.
Days after the Filipina netter’s feat, winning the 2022 US Open Girls’ Singles to become the first Pinoy to bring the country a glory of that level in the sport, the 22-time major champion tagged Eala in an Instagram story on Thursday morning, Philippine time.
The 17-year-old Filipina is a scholar in the Mallorca-based Rafa Nadal Academy for Tennis for the past three years. Eala and Nadal have crossed paths before, with a series of friendly exchanges.
This time, though, he didn’t say a word. Rather, the ‘King of Clay’ just put five ‘clapping’ emojis on his story as he reposted the original collaborative post of Eala and the RNA.
LOOK: Rafa Nadal claps for Alex Eala
Eala reposted this on her own page and added the raising hands emoji. The original post featured the billboards in the Philippines celebrating Eala’s victory.
Simple, but impactful, like Alex’s biggest lesson from Rafa, humility.
While Eala went the distance in the US Open Girls’, Nadal suffered an early exit at Flushing Meadows, with Frances Tiafoe ending his 22-match Grand Slam winning streak.
