Ever since she burst onto the scene last year, Alex Eala has not been particularly strong with her serve. In fact, she has one of the slowest serves on the women’s tour, and pundits have often pointed out that her service game needs significant improvement.
Alex Eala’s Serve Frustrates Iga Świątek
On Saturday at Wimbledon’s famed Centre Court, however, that slow, sometimes unreliable serve worked to Eala’s advantage as she stunned defending champion Iga Świątek, 7-6(9), 6-2, to advance to the Round of 16 of the season’s third Grand Slam. Afterwards, Świątek admitted to struggling with Eala’s serve, describing it as becoming “tougher and tougher to return” as the match progressed.
“I think it was tougher mentally for me to accept these missed returns from the slow serves. I got to say it’s much tougher to return a serve like that than a normal serve,” Świątek said in the post-match press conference. “I know it was slow. I know exactly how it’s going to come to me. It’s such a different rhythm than what I usually have a chance to return. I felt like she was serving slower and slower, and it became tougher and tougher for me to return these serves. That, for me, was hard to accept.”
Świątek never found a clean rhythm on the return, winning just 41% of second-serve points. Eala’s slower serve also allowed her to play with more control—she committed zero double faults and surrendered no free points on serve.
Alex Eala Knows Her Serve Isn’t a Weapon
The 21-year-old Filipina acknowledged afterward that her serve, which is much slower than the WTA average of 100–105 mph on first serves and 65–75 mph on second serves, is not yet a strength. Even so, she emphasized that she tries to use it to her advantage.
“Yes. I have never really been the biggest server in comparison to a lot of the girls here. I do my best to use my serve as an advantage. I think I have a lot of other strengths. Although I do believe it’s been improving a lot,” Eala said when asked about Świątek’s comments. “Every player is different…so I guess I did my job well.”
Indeed, Eala did her job well on Saturday against elite competition. And now, thanks in part to what was supposed to be a weakness, the history-making Filipina is moving on to Wimbledon’s Round of 16.
Alex Eala Next Match
Singles (Fourth Round)
Alex Eala vs. Jasmine Paolini
Tournament: Wimbledon
Date: Monday, July 6 (Time to be determined.)
