Alexandra Eala Topps Rookie Cards Surge During US Open Run

In the hearts and minds of Filipinos around the world, there is a three-way battle for the affection of sports fans. In basketball, there’s Jordan Clarkson, the first player of Filipino descent to win an NBA Championship. Because basketball is the national pastime of the Philippines and the passion for the sport is second to none, seeing one of their own finally climb the top of the proverbial mountain was a special moment. In tennis, Alexandra Eala has become the sport’s breakout star of 2026, crossing uncharted territory for Filipinos with a win on the WTA Tour and earning the highest ranking so far for someone from Southeast Asia.

And then there’s Pablo Torre, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose reporting on the salary cap circumvention of the Los Angeles Clippers has reignited the discourse of the importance of investigative reporting over hot takes that has become the norm in sports media. He also keeps a running tab of every athlete with Filipino heritage competing in American sports, including Phoenix Suns guard Jalen Green, New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, Clarkson, and Alex Eala. So he’s doing the Lord’s work for all of us.

Unfortunately for Clarkson and Torre, neither of them are packing stadiums like Alex Eala did at the US Open, with her run ending on Saturday night to friend and fellow young star Iva Jović. And unless Clarkson brings the Larry O’Brien trophy and the rest of the New York Knicks with him back home for a nationwide tour, he’s not on course to break the record for most fans to ever attend a sporting event in the country live like Eala. This December, the 21-year-old is scheduled to participate in an exhibition match at the Philippine Arena that can seat up to 55,000 people. The current record is 51,954 for a match in South Africa between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, two of the tennis GOATs. As somebody who knows and has seen firsthand the draw of a transcendent Filipino athlete, the Philippine people will do whatever it takes to bring that record home.

Eala has one WTA win to her resume and she already has the type of following that rivals the legends of the past and the major winners of today. The hype is unmistakably premature, as is the case whenever any Filipino crosses over. Her US Open run may have ended early, but imagine if she wins a major within the next few years. There isn’t a building in the world that can contain the number of Filipinos who will want to be part of her story. Not only that, her name would join the debate of a hypothetical Filipino athlete Mount Rushmore* alongside Manny Pacquiao, Carlos Yulo (two-time Olympic gold medalist), Efren Reyes (greatest pool player ever) and Hidilyn Diaz (first Filipino Olympic gold medalist).

The Alex Eala Trading Card Market

Eala made her Topps trading card debut in 2024 at a time when she was ranked 148th in the world. To be fair, that ranking might work if you’re looking to pivot into podcasting and you know all the keywords to appeal to supposedly aggrieved audiences, but it’s not nearly enough when you have aspirations of being recognized for on-court talent and success. According to eBay’s Price Insights, a PSA 10 2024 Topps Chrome Rookie Autograph of Eala was selling for $50 towards the end of the year. While that number is higher than players with similar rankings because of her Filipino fan base, the ceiling will only rise up so high if the potential isn’t being met.

Prior to her victory in Washington DC, the median price of Eala’s PSA 10 2024 Topps Chrome Rookie Autograph had steadily risen in value into the $150 range at the start of this year. After her Washington D.C. win, that number has gone up for $1,400 with a high of $1,900. As for the ultra-rare pieces, a one-of-one signed card from 2024 Topps Royalty Tennis with a “Vamos” inscription recently sold for $15,655, the most for an Eala card. The previous record was $10,521 for another signed one-of-one card out of Topps Royalty that also included a piece of her gear.

It cannot be understated how much Eala’s cards are being driven by Filipino card collectors and Eala fans who want to be a part of the wave. The phenomenon is not unlike what we see when Jeremy Lin’s rookie cards went from the dollar bin to being worth thousands of dollars during the height of Linsanity or how Shohei Ohtani is one of the biggest reasons for the trading card boom we’re seeing today. When an athlete with Asian descent thrives in American sports, cards are one way the fans can feel like they are involved. Eala is invoking that same feeling among Filipinos this year. Investors and speculators and resellers might all wonder if this is sustainable or not, but the fans actually driving these sales don’t really care; they just want to feel like they are part of Alex’s journey.

The next few years will ultimately determine where Eala stands in the hobby. If this moment feels like a bubble, it will actually get better - or worse depending on your perspective - with a few more WTA wins and deep runs in the majors. But if these last few months are the peak of Eala’s run, the prices will come back down, although it’s unlikely it will ever drop back down to $50 for a PSA 10 card ever again.

A Filipino athlete people might want to look up to see what happens after their first big moment in the spotlight is racing driver Bianca Bustamante. After competing in the all-female single-seater W Series championship in 2022, she participated in the F1 Academy Series in 2023 and 2024, scoring a handful of podiums and notching two wins. During her time in F1 Academy, Bustamante was heavily featured in the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive as one of their biggest personalities and celebrities thanks to her large Filipino fanbase.

Bustamante’s first trading card appearance was in 2025 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions and they included autograph cards on classic Upper Deck designs like 2003 Exquisite Basketball. Upon release, Bustamante’s autographs were selling for hundreds of dollars, rivaling the prices of young stars in other sports like Trinity Rodman and legends like Tony Hawk and Andre Agassi. However, Bustamante’s move to other series outside of the F1 banner and the lack of exposure and victories has brought the hype down significantly and her cards have come back to more reasonable numbers that are akin to when Eala’s cards debuted.

Nike’s (Second) Big Filipino Break

Did Nike anticipate any of this when they signed Eala back in 2019? Probably not. If they had a hint that she would become a sensation, her deal would be so lucrative and filled with clauses that state other sponsors would not be allowed on her kit. As pointed out by Serena Williams’ coach and Eala critic Rennae Stubbs, Alex is able to feature two personal sponsors, BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) and Globe Telecom, on her Nike outfit. When compared to the legendary fits of other Nike women’s tennis athletes like Williams, Naomi Osaka, and Maria Sharapova through the years, the additional logos on Eala’s do give it a slightly off-kilter vibe.

However, this significant concession could be Nike’s way of appeasing Eala when it comes time to renegotiate her deal. Nelly Korda, LPGA superstar and current number one ranked women’s golfer in the world, is able to wear a Goldman Sachs hat along with her heavily scripted Nike outfits. Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Michelle Wie, and Brooks Koepka are just a handful of past and present Nike Golf headliners who were never afforded that same privilege. Should Eala continue on this roll, it wouldn’t be surprising to see her push to keep this exemption. In the meantime, she’s been busy leading up to the US Open, making appearances alongside tennis legend and Nike pioneer John McEnroe.

And Nike would know a thing or two about working with a fast-rising Philippine athlete. When Manny Pacquiao signed with the brand in 2006, he was on the verge of becoming a household name. Even though he was in Nike gear from head to toe leading up to a fight, when the lights were brightest, the Swoosh had to share. Pacquiao wore Nike HyperKO boxing shoes and baggy Nike shorts, but alongside the Swoosh were the logos of Cafe Puro (coffee brand), Ricoa (chocolates), Heads and Shoulders (you already know), Motolite (batteries), and many more.

No matter who, where, or when he fought, Pacquiao brought the spirit (and the spending power) of an entire country behind him, filling arenas and breaking pay-per-view records. His training sessions in Los Angeles prior to fights were so legendary that famous names from the sports and entertainment world would make the trip just to see his workouts. According to Kobe Bryant, who visited a Pacquiao training session in 2011, the idea for the high-cut Nike Kobe 9 Elite was inspired by Pac-Man’s boxing boots. In 2026 terms, that would be like Caitlin Clark attending the US Open and seeing Eala’s Nike Vapor Pro 3s and basing a future signature shoe off that design.

Of course, we’re a long way from that scenario playing out, but Nike is already setting the table just in case Eala keeps the good times rolling. During an exhibition match prior to the US Open, Eala wore a Nike Air Force 1 celebrating her first WTA Tour win and featuring a unique logo. The better she performs, the more opportunities to be heavily featured in Nike campaigns like Pacquiao once did grow as well. Naturally, this has led to some blowback online from people who have no joy in their lives, but it would be disingenuous for anybody to say that the pressure to perform has not grown over the past several months. It will be an interesting ride over the next year to see Eala enter the same class as an Osaka, Nike Tennis’ most recent superstar who is also climbing her way back up the rankings.

Juan Martinez

From video game journalism to veteran of the sneaker blog era to podcasting about well, everything, Juan is smiling through it all and can't believe this is his life. His current hot take is that people are really underrating the Psyduck trading card market. Email: juan@soleretriever.com Instagram | Twitter | Bluesky | Threads : @ezyville