@alex.eala/Courtesy of Nike
Alex Eala proudly wore her Filipino heritage in her hair, adorned with the national flower, the sampaguita, a symbolic gift from Nike.
At just 20 years old, Alex Eala is rewriting history for Philippine tennis. This season, she climbed to a career-high No. 56 on the WTA Tour, making her the highest-ranked Filipino player in history and the first to break into the world’s top 100. But her ascent is not just measured by numbers. It is traced in early mornings, in years of quiet persistence, and in the weight of a nation’s hopes carried with grace.
This year, Eala became the first Filipino woman to reach the main draw of Wimbledon, a tournament long considered the most historic and prestigious in tennis. She stepped onto the hallowed grass of SW19 with unwavering focus, opening her campaign on Centre Court against former Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova. It was a defining moment not only for her career but for Philippine sport itself.
Ahead of her debut match, Eala received a personal gift from Nike: a sampaguita hair tie enclosed in a white box lined with a miniature tennis court. Tucked inside was a handwritten note, transforming the gesture into something deeply emotional and symbolic.
“The sampaguita—the flower of my country. A reminder of where I come from and everything that brought me here,” Eala wrote on Instagram, sharing a close-up of the delicate bloom woven into her hair, in keeping with Wimbledon’s all-white dress code.
The accompanying card from Nike read, “The sampaguita: delicate, radiant, resilient, is more than the Philippines’ national flower. It is strength. It is belief. It is home. And today, you carry it with you. Every dream begins as a seed. Kung may tinanim, may aanihin. And what you plant, you’ll one day reap.
Over the last decade, you have planted it all—the hours, the grind, the quiet resolve. And now, here you are, a Filipina on the grass courts of history. Not just playing for herself, but carrying a nation in full bloom. All yours.”
Nike has confirmed that the sampaguita hair tie was created exclusively for Eala and will not be made commercially available. Its rarity only reinforces its meaning. In a landscape crowded with sponsorships and athlete endorsements, this stands out as an example of brand storytelling that feels intimate, intentional, and rooted in cultural pride.
The sampaguita, a small star-shaped flower with a sweet, lingering fragrance, has been the national flower of the Philippines since 1934. Indigenous to South and Southeast Asia, it is thought to have reached the archipelago through early trade. In Filipino culture, the flower symbolizes purity, simplicity, humility, and strength; values mirrored in Eala’s quiet determination and dignified presence on the world stage.
As she continues to compete internationally, the sampaguita hair tie has come to represent something far greater than personal style. It has become a symbol of identity, of heritage, and of a generation of Filipino dreamers. With every match, Alex Eala is planting something larger than herself: proof that culture, ambition, and elegance can coexist in even the smallest and most deliberate of details.
