MANILA, Philippines – If you’ve been following Alex Eala’s career, you’ve probably seen that Facebook post that includes a photo showing her hugging a man in a wheelchair after her first-round exit from the Australian Open.

The story behind that scene is quite touching — the man named “Marco” saved up all his money and even sold his motorbike to be able to watch Eala in her breakthrough main draw appearance in the first Grand Slam of the year, all this while battling cancer.

“Marco” then caught the eye of Eala after the match, and she ran up to the man and embraced him. In another photo, Eala was shown signing a tennis ball with her right hand. 

Except “Marco” is not real, the photos are AI-generated, and Eala is left-handed. 

While the story paints Eala in a good light, it is sadly one of the countless fake content about the Filipina tennis heroine, who rose to stardom over the past year following numerous historic feats for the country and her ascent to the world top 50.

Eala said she is conscious of the growing misinformation about her online. 

“That’s not really under my control. I don’t have power over what other people post. I’m aware that there have been a lot of fake news articles,” said Eala after her exit from the Philippine Women’s Open, where she lost to Colombia’s Camila Osorio in the quarterfinals on Thursday, January 29. 

“It is concerning because I see sometimes they get a lot of likes, and it’s difficult, I understand, to tell the difference when you see it online.”

Rappler and The Nerve previously reported that several tennis-themed Facebook pages bank on clickbait and sensational content about Eala for profit.

These Facebook pages first build an audience base of tennis fans, post made-up stories that drive up engagement, and funnel traffic to external sites, which display multiple advertisements and earn thousands, up to millions, in pesos, depending on the number of page views.

It is the same case with the “Marco” content posted by Tennis Mood, as it leads to a website that is peppered with ads. 

Eala encouraged people to be more discerning of the information they believe in. 

“I know a lot of people sometimes can get misinformed. I guess my take would be to tell them to just try to find reliable sources of news and just try to listen to the dependable outlets. That’s all I can say,” she said. 

Thanks to Eala’s rise, interest in tennis is at a high in the country, which staged a WTA 125 tournament for the first time and hosted multiple top-100 players.

Eala knows her popularity and influence come with a responsibility. 

“I do my best because I know that, especially on the international stage, I represent quite a big demographic. It’s such an honor to have this support and this community rally behind me,” she said. – Rappler.com