Alexandra Eala explains the Filipino phrases she uses when talking to herself on court

Alexandra Eala is constantly motivating herself on court, with her efforts having helped her become one of the most popular players in world tennis.

Eala is currently furthering her popularity at Indian Wells in California, where she has stormed into the last 16 on her debut.

Her fans have once again turned up in their numbers to show their support, helping drive the Filipina forward both on and off the court.

The 20-year-old has now paid back her supporters by sharing insight into the Filipino phrases she uses to help get her through matches.

Alexandra Eala shares the Filipino phrases she tells herself on court

Offering basic phrases in a Filipino lesson to Tennis Channel, she explained: “Okay, I’ll keep it simple.

“The first would be ‘mabuhay’, a word or expression in the Philippines, it kind of translates to ‘long live’, but we say mabuhay when we welcome people or when we are celebrating something.

“The second would be ‘mahal kita’, I love you. Easy peasy, keep it simple, spread the love.

“And the third would be ‘ay nako’. If you hit an error in the match you’ll be like, ‘Oh, ay nako’. It will be like that.

“You could say ‘laban’, that means fight. When I talk to myself on court, I’ll say ‘isa pa’, that means one more, or ‘kaya mo to’, you can do it.

“So I have a lot of phrases that I tell myself, there’s a lot of things you can say.”

Why Alexandra Eala must have a strong belief against Linda Noskova

Eala is certainly a fighter on the court, with her fantastic determination helping her achieve great success in her relatively brief career so far.

She hasn’t won a WTA title yet, but has almost cracked the Top 30 and has already surpassed 200 wins at the age of 20.

Belief may just be the overriding quality needed for her next match at Indian Wells, which is against Linda Noskova.

She is the 14th seed at Tennis Paradise, but her nationality is the key aspect as to why Eala must be confident of success no matter what.

Remarkably, the Filipina ace has played against Czech opponents 11 times and has lost all 11 matches.

While she’ll be keen to ignore that unwanted history, it may just be on the back of her mind heading into the match and early on in proceedings.

A quick start could be the key to the match, in which Eala will undoubtedly be relying on her trusty Filipino phrases.

She should have already gained plenty of confidence from her run on debut so far, having knocked out Dayana Yastremska and Coco Gauff.

Eala defeated the former 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in a courageous performance, while she led the latter 6-2, 2-0 before the American retired hurt.

That display certainly bodes well for her chances against Noskova for mental reasons if nothing else, with Eala having been beaten heavily by Gauff in Dubai less than a month ago.

Read more:

Alexandra Eala names the three celebrities she would love to watch her play

Jessica Pegula’s Power Play — One Quick Fix to Untangle the WTA Calendar

Alexandra Eala proves her stunning popularity again as she wins on her Indian Wells debut