Alexandra Eala gives confusing nonanswer about skipping doubles with Venus at Mubadala DC Open

The Mubadala DC Open main draw play begins on Monday, July 27, and one of the main stories leading into it is the unpairing of Venus Williams with Alexandra Eala in women’s doubles.

For weeks, tennis fans have been inundated with hype about this team reuniting after it made it to the quarterfinals of the Bad Homburg Open a month ago.

It appears that Eala pulled the plug on playing doubles with Venus, but her confusing answer is out of character and makes little sense.

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What Eala said

Eala basically said she can only play singles since this is her first tournament back, presumably she means from Wimbledon, where she played singles and doubles.

“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 think I can only do that for singles. 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.”

My initial suspicion is that Eala is dealing with an injury and does not want to elaborate on it, but this answer is out of character for the woman who has proven to be all-in all the time on the court and jumps at every opportunity to play competitive tennis.

Perhaps she thinks playing both is hindering her ability to advance further in singles. If that is the case, she should say so because many would understand and agree. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka abandoned doubles to play singles and never plays both in a tournament.

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What Venus said

Venus is very good at diplomatically answering a question without giving much away.

She said: “We had a great time playing at Bad Homburg so we were looking forward to playing again. Didn’t work out this time. Would love for there to be future times. We’ll see what happens.”

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