It’s around 7p.m.Tuesday night, and Louis Armstrong Stadium is filling up for its slate of night-session matches. Frenchman Gael Monfils, a fan favorite at the US Open for the past twenty years, is about to put on a show under the lights in what will turn out to be his second-to-last ever match in New York. But the crowd seems far more interested in someone who wasn’t even born when Monfils went pro in 2004.

Alexandra Eala is a 21-year-old Filipino phenomenon who has swept across the tennis world this year. Since the beginning of June, she has compiled a 22-6 record, including wins over champions such as Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka and Elena Rybakina, who have won 12 major titles between them. Eala herself hasn’t yet made it past the fourth round of a major, and as the 17th seed at the Open, winning the tournament would be a seismic shock.

But, as evidenced by the blanket media coverage of her feats, Eala-mania is about far more than what’s happening on the court. It’s about how an entire country has suddenly appeared on the tennis map, and brought with it an increasingly zealous new set of fans. From London to Toronto to Cincinnati, the Filipino diaspora has taken over stadiums this summer, bringing a new brand of exuberance to an oft-buttoned-up sport. And on this night, New York is no different.

As the crowd swells, so does its sea of colors — red, blue, white and yellow — the ones that make up the Philippines’ flag, which along with flags, hats, jackets, t-shirts, are everywhere you look. The fans are primed to see their Alex.

At a bar on the concourse I meet a cheerful man named Jojo, knocking back a few drinks with his........

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