Andy Roddick has called Alex Eala a “sneaky” presence heading toward the US Open and made the case that the tennis world ought to be behind her. His comments come after a notable stretch for the 21-year-old, who captured her first WTA Tour title by beating world No 3 Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the Washington DC Open final.

That result at the hard-court WTA 500 event carried Eala into the top 20 of the WTA Rankings for the first time. It also came on the back of her fourth-round run at Wimbledon last month, which remains her best Grand Slam finish to date.

Her record against the game’s best has helped fuel the attention. Eala is 9-4 against top 10 players, and Roddick praised the way she handles those matches. “She’s not scared to play the top players. There’s no doubt,” Roddick said on his Served podcast.

He then pointed to how close she is to the seeded places in the top 16. “And I mean, she’s sneaky — we’re talking four spots away from being seeded in the top 16. That’s the next goal for her.

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“Can we put up a couple of results in Canada and Cincinnati and sneak inside that top 16 where a fourth round is expected and not a surprise to anyone. Massive, massive props to her, she’s so much fun.”

Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion and former world No 1, also focused on Eala’s broader significance to the sport. “Everyone in tennis should be cheering for her, right? And you [could] say, like, ‘don’t pick favourites, don’t cheer for her’, sure… I’m cheering for markets,” said the American.

He argued that her popularity can help tennis reach far beyond its core audience. “If we could bring hundreds of millions of people because she’s playing, well, then I’m going to cheer for that because it’s better for tennis.

“I know some people might bristle and be like, ‘listen, she hasn’t won a Slam. What are we doing?’ No, but she’s literally carrying hundreds of millions of fans to our sport and saying, you’re die-hards now. This is great for the sport.

“It doesn’t mean you like her more than… I love Jessica Pegula. All I’m saying is that I want to see Eala consistently do well because of what an impact she will have on the game if she does that.

“Not all impacts are the same with players. Eala winning a Slam is more than someone else winning a Slam. That’s just the way it works. We’re lucky in tennis to have her. We should continue to support the story.

“And listen, none of this s*** happens and no one cares if she’s not winning stuff. So, this is great.”

Eala is scheduled to meet Alycia Parks in her opening match at the Canadian Open in Toronto.

The 2026 Canadian Open has already been shaped by an unusually long list of absences, with 25 players now having withdrawn or retired across the men’s and women’s singles events.

The ATP and WTA tournaments in Canada switch between Sobeys Stadium in Toronto and IGA Stadium in Montreal each year. For this edition, the men are competing in Montreal, while the women are playing in Toronto.

Before main draw action began on Sunday 2 August, 16 players, eight men and eight women, had already withdrawn from the combined ATP/WTA 1000 event. Among the most notable names missing from the men’s draw are Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, the three biggest names in men’s tennis. On the women’s side, Karolina Muchova, Victoria Mboko, Jasmine Paolini and Emma Raducanu are among those who pulled out.

ATP Canadian Open withdrawal list

Jannik Sinner replaced by Valentin Royer

Carlos Alcaraz replaced by Jan-Lennard Struff

Novak Djokovic replaced by Marton Fucsovics

Alexander Bublik replaced by Rinky Hijikata

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina replaced by Jenson Brooksby

Ethan Quinn replaced by Daniel Merida

Tomas Machac replaced by James Duckworth

Sebastian Korda replaced by Luca Van Assche

WTA Canadian Open withdrawal list

Karolina Muchova replaced by Taylor Townsend

Victoria Mboko replaced by Karolina Pliskova

Jasmine Paolini replaced by Tamara Korpatsch

Hailey Baptiste replaced by Anna Bondar

Emma Raducanu replaced by Eva Lys

Dayana Yastremska replaced by Renata Zarazua

Laura Siegemund replaced by Wang Xiyu

Petra Marcinko replaced by Alycia Parks

Since the tournament began, seven more players have retired during matches, including five women and two men. That group includes Denis Shapovalov, Gabriel Diallo and Jelena Ostapenko. Two others, Jaume Munar and Lanlana Tararudee, withdrew before their second round matches after winning in the opening round.

ATP Canadian Open mid-match retirements and walkovers

Denis Shapovalov ret. at 6-4, 4-6, 0-3 vs. Zachary Svajda

Gabriel Diallo ret. at 4-6, 3-2 vs. Luciano Darderi

Jaume Munar withdrew before 2R match vs. Alexander Blockx

WTA Canadian Open mid-match retirements and walkovers

Polina Kudermetova ret. 0-6, 3-6 vs. Alina Korneeva

Elisabetta Cocciaretto ret. at 2-6, 2-3 vs. Talia Gibson

Eva Lys ret. at 6-2, 6-7(3), 0-2 vs. Panna Udvardy

Jelena Ostapenko ret. at 0-6, 0-4 vs. Zhang Shuai

Katerina Siniakova ret. at 7-6(1), 0-6, 2-5 vs. Kamilla Rakhimova

Lanlana Tararudee withdrew before 2R match vs. Amanda Anisimova

Alex Eala has been a player to follow ever since her breakout run at the Miami Open in 2025, but her latest step forward came at this year’s Washington Open.

There, Eala put together a statement week, beating Qinwen Zheng, Leylah Fernandez, Elina Svitolina, Naomi Osaka and Jessica Pegula to claim the first WTA title of her career. The final three of those victories came against the tournament’s top three seeds, underlining the scale of the result. In total, she now owns eight wins over top 10 opponents in 2026.

Her strong summer has drawn praise from Kim Clijsters, who sees more than just confidence behind the results. On her podcast Love All, Clijsters pointed to a “tactical difference” in Eala’s game, along with clear physical progress.

“Physically her body looks a lot stronger than what she was back then [in 2025] and of course you know she’s she’s a woman now,” said Clijsters on her podcast Love All.

“I felt like she was still a young girl and and when she came up, so I think that’s where she’s made a lot of strides as well to be able to weaken [opponents] and the list of names games that you named that she beat like you have to be physically capable of counter punching.

“Like there’s a lot of hard hitters in there, a lot of long rallies that she like that always has to play long matches. And so the body has to be ready to take on that demand. And to me that’s the the first thing that stands out.

“What I think is in general for everybody else, even if you’re not a tennis fan or you don’t watch tennis often, is her movement, right? She moves really really well. What I like to look at, and I call it home base, like where she runs back to in between her shots.

“Like she doesn’t wait when she gets pushed back. Like she doesn’t wait in the back of the court or in the middle of the back of the court. She takes those steps forward and is always looking to cut the corners and to just yeah take time away from her opponent which is that combination is there’s a lot of players who move really well side to side but they don’t just don’t cut the corners when they when they have the chance.”

Clijsters also highlighted Eala’s return of serve, especially her anticipation in Washington.

“To me those two things stand out for me in her in her movement and then I think her anticipation, I don’t think I noticed it as much as maybe this week where especially in Osaka was to me the first time where I started noticing how well she’s reading her opponent’s serves.

“Osaka can can really hide her serve direction very well and she at times is standing like a foot like into the court and still getting to the return on time and to the serve like first serves like good kick serves from Osaka.

“I think when it comes down to like a tactical difference that she made this week or that she’s made over the last few months and that stood out for me this week is her serve return positioning and the way that she’s been able to attack first and second serve of good servers and made it really tough.

“She’s a left-hander so we know that that’s always a little bit tricky for a lot of players. Placing her serve better. It’s not the hardest serve, but she places it well. Good variety. So, yeah, a lot of great things I feel like that she’s been adding on to and that she’s been improving over time.”

Eala now turns quickly to the Canadian Open after lifting the Washington trophy. She has a first-round bye in Toronto because of her seeding and will begin in the second round.