Jessica Pegula flabbergasted by Alexandra Eala's influence as 'Players Box Podcast' subscribers count significantly boosted

Alexandra Eala mania has hit Toronto, and in a big way. The 21-year-old talent is coming off the back of winning a maiden DC Open title, defeating Jessica Pegula in the final. The World No.3 would be very disappointed with that result, but has taken solace in the fact that her podcast has seen a huge rise in subscribers thanks to Philippines tennis fans tuning in and watching.

'The Players Box Podcast' is hosted by four American professional tennis players: Pegula, Madison Keys, Desirae Krawczyk and Jennifer Brady. The four friends record episodes from time to time giving insight on their tennis careers and behind the scenes stories of events while also touching on other things away from the sport.

It has been a hit with many since they started doing it almost a year a go, racking up over 50 episodes that they managed to squeeze around their busy schedule.

Sitting on around 23,000 subscribers a couple of days ago following Pegula's meeting with Eala in Washington, the Filipino tennis fans have seemingly taken an interest in the podcast. Eala was a guest in two previous episodes. One as a guest in a regular podcast and the other in a food tasting video with Eva Lys also featuring in Germany.

Those two videos are by far the podcasts most viewed episodes, collecting 280,000 and 86,000 views respectively to date on YouTube alone. Eala is most certainly a hit with her fellow countrymen and women, who continue to follow her on many different platforms.

Pegula recognised this growth, noting the sheer mass of subscribers gained on their YouTube channel. "Filipino fans are insane. We definitely got like 4,000 or 5,000 more subscribers after that match," she said. "Even when I was leaving the stadium, they were cheering for me. They're just excited to be there. Maybe because she's been on our podcast before, they like me a little bit more. Maybe I've gained some Filipino fans. I'm glad that they like to listen and follow, and I think that's really neat that it's crossed over."

Prominent tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg corrected the 32-year-old, stating that it has much more than the first figure stated. "Well more than that, actually: Player’s Box has gone from like 23k to 34k, a gain of nearly 50% in just a couple days, thanks to the Eala fans," he wrote, showing the seismic effect they have on tennis.

A two-time Canadian Open champion, Pegula will be hopeful in getting a third title, and a fifth WTA 1000 triumph. Her ambitions could have ended yesterday in a very closely fought match against Magdalena Frech.

There was the sense of Deja-vu from their previous meeting in the DC Open just a week ago. The Pole took the first set 6-3 on both occasions, but would go on to drop the next two as Pegula kept up her perfect record against Frech, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The only difference was that in Washington, Pegula bageled Frech in the final set. She had been very busy recently, playing five days on the spin with the final being played over two days thanks to torrential rain halting proceedings. Just one day's rest was allowed before she played her first match in Toronto.

Seemingly the effects were showing as she fell behind, but the former US Open finalist proved to be too strong for her opponent and managed to prevail quite comfortably in the end. The number three seed will play against Kamilla Rakhimova in the third round. One of Anna Kalinakaya or Diana Shnaider will await the winner in the last-16 with a possible quarter-final showdown against one of Iga Swiatek, Marta Kostyuk or podcast compatriot Keys on the table.