Here's How Alex Eala Can Qualify for the 2028 LA Olympics

Alex Eala added another Asian Games medal to her record, taking home bronze from the women’s singles competition in Nagoya. The Filipina tennis star fell to China’s Wang Xiyu, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals, matching the bronze she won at the 2022 Hangzhou Games. The result, however, meant she missed the direct Olympic qualification awarded to the Asian Games singles champion.

With the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics (LA28) still nearly two years away, there are other ways for Alex to make her way to Los Angeles. Here’s how Olympic qualification works for tennis and where she stands.

According to the Olympics website, 172 athletes will compete in tennis at LA28, split evenly between the men's and women's events. Each singles draw will have 64 players, and most of those spots will be determined by the ATP and WTA rankings.

For the women’s singles event, 56 players will receive direct acceptance based on the rankings published on June 12, 2028. The remaining eight places fall under the International Tennis Federation (ITF)’s qualification system, with additional provisions for the host country and universality.

There are also limits on how many athletes one country can send. A National Olympic Committee (NOC) can have up to four players in each singles event, along with two teams in the men's and women's doubles competitions and one mixed doubles team.

For Alex, the WTA rankings will be particularly important. Her current position will not be used to determine the LA28 field, leaving the results she accumulates over the next two seasons to shape where she stands when the Olympic rankings are finalized.

The ITF Places offer another set of qualification routes, four of which come through continental competitions. The 2026 Asian Games is one of them, alongside the 2027 Pan American Games, 2027 African Games, and 2027 Pacific Games. Each event awards one women's singles quota place for its respective continent.

There are eligibility requirements attached to these continental places. The player must be ranked inside the world’s top 500 in singles, and their NOC must not have already filled its Olympic tennis quota.

The other two ITF Places are intended for a different group of players: previous Olympic singles gold medalists and/or Grand Slam singles champions who haven’t secured direct acceptance. They, too, must meet the top-500 ranking requirement and come from an NOC that hasn't reached its quota.

Singles isn't the only way Alex could potentially appear at LA28. Women’s doubles will have 32 teams in the Olympic field, with most of the places determined by players’ doubles and singles rankings. The host country will also have one guaranteed entry.

Mixed doubles will have a smaller field of 16 teams. Fifteen teams will qualify through the ranking-based system, with the United States receiving the remaining place as host. There is also a limit on representation, with no more than two players from the same NOC allowed to enter the mixed doubles event.

A doubles spot would depend on Alex’s ranking, her potential partner’s ranking, and the Philippines’ available Olympic quota when the field is finalized.

The key date is June 12, 2028, when the WTA and ATP rankings used for direct Olympic acceptance will be published. The ITF will then confirm quota places to National Olympic Committees on June 14, with NOCs given until June 20 to confirm their places.

The LA28 tennis competition itself is scheduled for July 19 to 28, 2028, at Carson Courts, the United States Tennis Association's High-Performance Training Center in California.