Young netter Alex Eala eats, sleeps, and breathes tennis

She started training at the early age of four, joined her first local competition two years later, then became an international contender when she was eight.

At 14, Alex has already clinched the 13th spot in the International Tennis Federation World Junior Rankings (18 years old and below), as the youngest netter among the Top 50, globally. She’s also the third highest ranked from Asia, following China’s Qinwen Zheng (No. 7) and Japan’s Natsumi Kawaguchi (8), who are both 17 years old.

Some might say that’s too young to commit oneself to a professional sport, but for a prodigy like Alex, there’s no place she’d rather be than a tennis court.

“Tennis has always been our family sport,” she tells SPIN Life. “I guess it really runs in the family.

I got into it because of my grandfather and brother. Whenever I compete, I just try to think that this is what I want to do, what I love to do.

Everyone has been working on this for so long, I just make the most out of it. I really enjoy it because you get a lot of things not just physically, but you also get strong mentally.”