Alex Eala during a meet and greet on Friday as she takes a brief holiday in the Philippines after her Grand Slam campaigns. –HANDOUT PHOTO

Alex Eala has learned so much in the whirlwind time that she had everyone in the tennis world giving her a closer look.

She’s learned a lot about herself, actually.

“More than what I learned from them (world-ranked opponents) is what I learned about myself when I play them,” Eala said during a meet-and-greet session arranged by Globe on Friday. “I learned my things, I learned what keeps me going, I learned how to manage my nerves, and I learned to be brave and channel the boss [in me].”

The 20-year-old has slugged it out with the literal best in women’s tennis in recent months, with her semifinal appearance at the Miami Open and her loss in the Eastbourne Open final obviously the highlight of a spectacular run.

She also became the first Filipino—man or woman—to play in the main draw of a Grand Slam event, where her loss to defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova in the first round, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, had the hard-hitter from the Czech Republic proclaiming her as a force in “the coming years.”

“It was crazy how things changed before and after Miami, you know, how many doors opened up and of course, all this attention and everything,” Eala said.

Eala brought down three Grand Slam champions in Miami, counting former world No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 7-5, before bowing to Jessica Pegula of the United States in the semis in three sets. Swiatek eventually went on to win Wimbledon over Aryna Sabalenka.

She has risen to a career-high of No. 56 in the world after that but remains hungry for more, as Eala is hoping to finally get her first Grand Slam women’s singles main draw win in the US Open.

“There’s still a lot for me to achieve,” she said. “There are a lot of big tournaments lined up, not just the US Open, so I hope to play well there and of course try to get my first Grand Slam main draw win.”

After her brief stop home, Eala is set to campaign in two WTA 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati, a WTA 500 in Monterrey, New York, before heading back to Asia later this year.

“We shift to Asia, so there will be a few around China,” she said. “I know there’s one in Hong Kong in October. Closer to home, so if anyone wants to come.”