It's such a privilege, Alexandra Eala says on playing defending champion on Centre Court

Dubai: Filipino tennis sensation Alexandra Eala couldn't have asked for more in her first appearance at Wimbledon. The 20-year-old will be facing reigning champion Barbora Krejcikova in the opening round on Centre Court.

“It's such a privilege, that is the court to be on,” Eala said. “My favourite Slam is Wimbledon, and when I dreamed of the big dreams when I was younger, it was on that court. I’m living the dream,” she added.

Eala made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the French Open last month where she went down 0-6, 6-2, 3-6 to Colombian clay-court specialist Emiliana Arango in the opening round. But she put that disappointment quickly behind making her first WTA final at the Eastbourne Open.

The World No 56 was beaten by Maya Joint in a final-set tiebreak. “Tennis is always like this, it's always the next week you always have something. Although this is on a bigger scale then what normally I'm used to, I have some experience when it comes to moving on and focusing on the next thing,” she added.

Krejcikova, who had an injury scare coming into Wimbledon, said is relishing the chance to test herself against an emerging star.

“To be honest, I don’t really know that much about her yet because she’s obviously a young player, an upcoming player, and one of the players of the new generation,” she said.

“I know that she was doing quite well at the first half of the year. It’s going to be a great matchup. I’m looking forward to see where the young generation is.”