At the Australian Open, these players represent South-east Asia’s potential

In mid-December, while many of their colleagues were wrapping up vacations and beginning pre-season training before the 2026 tennis year, Alexandra Eala and Janice Tjen were playing some of their most consequential matches.

Both were in Bangkok for the 33rd biennial South-east Asian Games, a multi-sport competition involving close to 10,000 athletes from 10 nations across 50 sports, including Eala’s native Philippines and Tjen’s homeland Indonesia.