Rising Filipina Eala offers a lovely message: Be yourself

There's nothing for sale in sport. No neighbourhood stores to buy composure. No place on the internet to order bravery. No supplement to swallow to ensure self-possession. You have to earn all this, sweat for it, nurture it, and even then there's no guarantee.

- Rohit Brijnath

But Alexandra Eala already seems to have it.

In a noisy sporting world, overcrowded with heroes, it takes some audacity to repeatedly steal headlines. But this 19-year-old has, and even the waiter at Wine Connection in Singapore breaks into a gentle smile at her name.

The waiter is from the Philippines, land of boxer Manny Pacquiao, the first Asian chess grandmaster Eugene Torre and Olympic champion weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz. But already news has filtered through about the 1.75m, laughing, combative leftie from his shores whose tennis racket for nine days resembled a Goliath-felling slingshot.

Talent can't stay secret on this planet. But it's not Eala's shots which caught the eye because shots everyone has. No, what distinguishes her – and Singaporean athletes should take note – is a rare quality. A charming self-assurance.

Let's be clear, Eala, a wild card who beat three Grand Slam winners (Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek) to get to the Miami semi-finals, isn't a great player. Just brilliantly impersonated one for a fortnight. Just did what athletes must do when chance winks at them. Just seize it.