Alex Eala Joins the Show, Alcaraz Upset, Iga Fires Coach & Osaka Retirement Hints?

Served with Andy Roddick

Served Media

Sports, Tennis, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Served, Andy Roddick and Jon Wertheim sit down with the "Pride of the Philippines," Alex Eala, to peel back the curtain on her meteoric rise. Alex gets incredibly candid about her journey, from training with her grandfather on basketball courts to moving to the Rafa Nadal Academy at age 13 and the surreal experience of becoming a national hero. Producer Mike and Jon Wertheim also talk about some big headlines coming out of the first week in Miami: questions swirl after Naomi Osaka hints at retirement, Iga Świątek fires her coach Wim Fissette, and Carlos Alcaraz loses to Sebastian Korda in the third round. Also, Wimbledon has announced that some courts will have electronic video review available for the 2026 tournament. COMMENT BELOW: What was your favorite moment from the Alex Eala interview? 📩 Sign up for the Newsletter here: https://servedmedia.substack.com/ Check out some Served Merch: https://store.servedpodcast.com/ 📱If you're new to the Served with Andy Roddick, we're happy you're here! Follow us for more: https://www.instagram.com/servedpodcast/ https://x.com/Served_Podcast https://www.tiktok.com/@served_podcast Theme music composed, produced, and mixed by Dan Whittemore. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dwhit.wav/ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Introduction & Teaser 0:54 Welcome to Served 2:49 Sebastian Korda stuns Carlos Alcaraz in Miami 5:31 Naomi Osaka’s retirement rumors & Talia Gibson’s rise 10:06 Wimbledon’s new video review technology for 2026 13:29 Iga Swiatek parts ways with coach Wim Fissette 19:37 Interview: Alex Eala joins the show 20:54 Reflecting on the 2025 Miami Open breakout 23:52 Representing the Philippines & dealing with fame 30:45 Backstory: Training with Grandpa & moving to Spain at 13 35:16 First interactions with Rafa Nadal 37:21 The Filipino fan base 46:13 Dream matchups 48:03 Finding happiness through progress on court 50:30 Roddick & Wertheim react to Eala interview 54:02 Breaking the "Country Club" tennis stereotype 59:02 Closing thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The phenomenon, the pride of the Philippines, Alex Yala, welcome to Serb.
0:04.0	Hello everyone.
0:05.0	When did you realize you were representing something much bigger?
0:08.0	In Melbourne, I saw a couple clips of the lines and the people.
0:12.0	I think we had a loss for words. I think I was a little in denial.
0:16.0	Walk us back a year ago, four days before the Miami event.
0:20.0	I have to say that week was probably the craziest week of my life.
0:23.6	I came into the tournament. I was a wild guard and I hadn't really had a lot of success.
0:29.6	So yeah, safe to say it was a big surprise for me.
0:33.6	You're moving at 13 years old across the world to play tennis. I look back at it and I'm like, oh my goodness, I moved out at 13.
0:42.3	You go to the Rafa Nadele Academy.
0:44.3	Do you remember the first time you practiced next to Rafa?
0:48.3	Were you intimidated or was it just all excitement?
0:50.3	Yes, so the first interaction with Rapa.
0:59.0	AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into.
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1:28.1	Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at ServiceNow.ow.com. What's up, everybody? Welcome to Served, presented by ServiceNow, and this is
1:34.2	producer Mike. And as you can see, from this wide shot, there is no Andy Rodick. But we do have a
1:39.1	John Wertheim who is in Paris. John, Andy is on his way back from an exhibition in Brazil.
	...

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