Millions have stayed up many times to watch Alex Eala play tennis abroad.

We are like in vigils deep into Philippine nights, supportive of Eala and eager to witness her notch victories that usher in extra beautiful mornings in the country.

The only thing missing in Eala’s wins is the raising of the tricolor to the tune of Lupang Hinirang. But the void is more than filled up by Filipinos themselves waving the flag and cheering and shouting from the stands in the courts where Eala plays.

We love Eala to bits because she’s excellent in tennis and the prospects that she can attain greater glory for herself and to the people she professes to love. She’s also thoughtful and articulate, seems immune from the perils of celebrity. She’s a proud Filipina whose sense of patriotism is matched only by Filipinos’ most avid, raucous and unmitigated fandom.

For a people fed up living in seemingly-perpetual dark times, staying up late to watch Eala gives people a reason to hope that a new morning is coming.

When she won her first WTA championship in the Mubadala DC Open, Eala became “the first-ever and hopefully the first of many.”

As of press time, Eala has won her debut at the Canadian Open in Toronto, by beating American Alycia Parks.

Apologies for the puns but I can't help it. It seems the Philippines is now one big “Eala Village” and every court where she plays an “Eala Center.”

If the trend continues, it would be good news to Philippine tennis fandom and also to the promotion of tennis and enticing young Filipinos to take the racket as well.

In a few years, the University of the Philippines would almost certainly invite Eala to teach, perhaps alongside Yulo. It would be a terrible mistake if sports development programs would not invite them to lend their experience and to reach our people about their sports and the paths they took towards global glory.

We have seen this before, when Hidilyn Diaz won the country’s first Olympic gold in Tokyo, and when Carlos Yulo won two Olympic golds in Paris. And even before when other Filipino athletes fought and won in world and Asian championships. They always give Filipinos a fresh sense of pride, and also give to the world our capacity for global greatness.

The Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education should redesign certain public schools and state colleges and universities to include facilities for weightlifting, artistic gymnastics, tennis, and other sports apart from basketball. Other sports where Filipinos could compete and excel are volleyball and football.

If the government can quickly and without question allot 1,620 hectares for an America-led technology project, then there's no acceptable excuse not to provide space for sports facilities in all regions of the country.

I hope to see citizen Manny Pacquiao lead Filipino athletes in pressing both the House and the Senate, as well as Malacanang, to do what's right for Filipino athletes and Philippine sports. (Hopefully, the future sports infrastructure would be corruption-free!)

In the case of Eala and Yulo, they affirm and confirm that young Filipinos remain our bearers of flag and hope. All they have achieved are monumental and historic, and consequential to the country. May they inspire others, and may their efforts reenergize the “once young” to support sports and youth development, and to not give in to hopelessness and cynicism.

For now, we follow Eala’s upward climb to tennis greatness. We don't mind the vigils late into the night. We don't mind if she suffers defeats, as all athletes do along the way. What we mind is seeing a Filipina valiantly compete and aspire to win in the highest levels of world tennis. With Filipinos abroad going in droves to cheer for her in competitions, we here at home join them virtually in an exercise of hope and for that awesome feeling of national achievement.

I don't mind if we get used to seeing one or many of us compete at the highest levels of tennis and other sports. That could only be positive for a nation looking for new visions, new heroes and new directions.

For this and for her being her amazing self, we must thank and continue to support Alex Eala and the other young athletes whose efforts bring out the best in us for all the world to see.