Alex Eala still has clear improvements she needs to make if she wants to reach her true potential.

Eala has enjoyed the best season of her tennis career so far in 2026, winning her first WTA title at the Washington Open, reaching the second week of Wimbledon and breaking into the top 20.

Despite all of her general improvements, the serve is still often labelled as Eala’s weakness.

Former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski believes that Eala can climb even higher up the rankings if she improves this, as he told her to look at ATP world number one Jannik Sinner.

Alex Eala told to take inspiration from Jannik Sinner to improve her serve

Rusedski wanted to hone in on Eala’s serve in the latest edition of his podcast, as he pointed out the issues she currently has with this shot. Rusedski, alongside tennis coach Ashley Neaves, analysed Eala’s serve as he backed her to become a top 10 player if she fixes the issues she is currently having.

“Well I’m sure the team is trying to do everything Ashley and I are suggesting, it is a question of her feeling comfortable and having the time to do those things, because I was quoted as saying about the tilt on her serve to get her in the right throwing position,” said Rusedski. Ashley believes in starting from the ground up, which I agree with him on. So he didn’t like that little step she takes before the serve. And then just putting out some ideas of what she can work on.

“I’m sure her team is doing it with her, but it’s getting her to feel comfortable with that. And I’m sure in the off season she’s going to work on those areas to get it where it needs to be. Because right now she’s top 20, to get the top 10, top five and to the top.

“She’s got the mentality, she’s got the return, she’s got the ground strokes. But if that serve can step up a level with those improvements in her footwork, her timing, as well as her throwing position, for me there’s no way she doesn’t get into the top 10, top five and then the sky’s the limit, because there’s so many other things that are so good, but that’ll be one of the key ingredients if she is to get to the very top in the women’s game.”

Rusedski added, “Well look at [Aryna] Sabalenka, she got a serving coach to get herself to number one, to win more majors. Took ownership and then pushed herself to the very top winning majors. With Coco Gauff, she’s been in that construction mode now for about nine months and we’re seeing patches where it’s starting to get better and then it slightly goes off the boil, but she’s heading in the right direction. And you look at the new world number one [Elena] Rybakina. Who has the best serve in the women’s game? Rybakina. What does that allow her to do? Get that first strike.

“So Eala and the rest of her team knows this is something she’s going to have to continually work on and they’re going to take the right period now. So once she gets to the end of the season, if she doesn’t make the end of season championships for the top eight in the world, I’m sure that’s number one on the list.

“And I’m sure they’re a lot of these ideas and have tried some of these, but it’s finding a solution that the player agrees with to get there to the next step. So, she will improve. She’s got too good a team of people around her and I wish her the best of luck because I’ve enjoyed watching her in 2026, it’s been a breakthrough year for her.”

Eala actually has a higher first serve percentage than world number one Elena Rybakina, and has also hit less double faults, but she is much lower down in terms of aces, points won on first serve, points won on second serve and service games won.

Rusedski and Neaves then took these improvements to the court, where they tried to demonstrate how they think Eala can still improve her service motion.

Neaves believes that Eala’s serve is a little disjointed, which can make her unbalanced, as he offered two options that she could use to avoid this happening.

“But something I noticed is that she has a pinpoint serve,” said Neaves. “So her back foot comes up to her front foot, but she does it in quite a disjointed way, which I believe throws her a little bit off balance and stops her from getting into this shoulder position.

“So rather than having this very bouncy step up to her front foot, I’d encourage one of two things. Either a slide, which can help with that shoulder tilt that we’re going to talk about or a slightly more subtle step up.

“To get there though, what I would recommend is actually trying some pinpoint serves from this position. Just to make sure that she’s able to hit a good serve from this narrow base. Because balance is everything when it comes to serving. So, I would go through a progression here where she’s actually starting in this position, getting that shoulder tilt and then going up to the ball…After a few of those I would maybe get that foot slightly further back. Maybe a narrow base rather than a big wide one like Greg. Narrow base here and then bring that back foot up and strike.”

Rusedski offered another alternative, as he pointed to the change Sinner made to his serve in his stance while serving, something he believes Eala could benefit from.

“The other aspect for her to do as well, because it’s much easier. We saw Jannik Sinner before and he basically changed from bringing the foot up to a platform basis, so she could also try a platform as well if she finds it better,” explained the former world number four.

“So it’s here push and then get up. I prefer bringing the foot forward with a little slide, because it’s just a little bit easier. So there’s a few options, because if you don’t have your balance right in the beginning, the rest can’t really happen.”

How concerned are you about Alex Eala’s form indoors? 😬

Alexandra Eala could have an issue she needs to solve after shock defeat to Tatiana Prozorova in Singapore

I don’t believe she can significantly improve her serve. Many top players have struggled to return her slow lefty serves. However, once they adapt, it becomes difficult for Eala to win against them.

How did Alex Eala perform in her first match at the Asian Games?

While Eala’s serve is something that she needs to work on, it did not hold her back in her opening match at the Asian Games.

Eala has decided to skip the China Open to represent the Philippines at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, something she could be punished for by the WTA Tour.

In her opening singles match, that was moved inside due to rain, Eala beat Thai Patcharin Cheapchandej 6-1, 6-0.

This is the Filipina’s first win since the US Open, with Eala suffering a shock opening round defeat in Singapore last week.

Eala will now face Chinese Taipei’s Joanna Garland, who was involved in drama before the Asian Games this year, in her quarter-final match.