{"id":50158,"date":"2026-07-14T20:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/07\/14\/this-is-our-victory-alex-ila-receives-a-heros-welcome-in-malacanang\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T20:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:33:10","slug":"this-is-our-victory-alex-ila-receives-a-heros-welcome-in-malacanang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/07\/14\/this-is-our-victory-alex-ila-receives-a-heros-welcome-in-malacanang\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;This is our victory&#8217; Alex Ila receives a hero&#8217;s welcome in Malaca\u00f1ang"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>MANILA &#8212; No Filipino athlete has had a warmer return home this year than tennis sensation Alexandra Ela.<\/p>\n<p>A day after returning to the Philippines after her historic Wimbledon run, she received a hero&#8217;s welcome at Manila&#8217;s Malaca\u00f1ang Palace and received the Presidential Citation from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The award recognizes Ila&#8217;s historic run at Wimbledon, where she became the first Filipino to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam singles event.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I feel like I&#8217;m getting a lot of attention,&#8221; Ira said at the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I hear those words from you, it makes me feel like everything I&#8217;ve ever done is seen. Every moment I don&#8217;t see on TV is seen, validated, and appreciated.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The 21-year-old admitted she was unusually nervous as she addressed the gathering of government officials inside the presidential palace.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have to confess, I don&#8217;t usually get nervous when I have to speak,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut today is an exception. I\u2019m pretty nervous.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am so grateful to be able to share my victories with the nation, especially my recent run at Wimbledon. As we say, this is our victory. Words cannot express how happy I am to see how my progress has been received by the Filipino people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ila arrived in Manila on Sunday and was welcomed by a delegation led by Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Patrick \u201cPato\u201d Gregorio and Philippine Olympic Committee Chairman Abraham \u201cBambol\u201d Tolentino.<\/p>\n<p>Her return came a week after her emotional battle at Wimbledon, where she lost in three sets to Italy&#8217;s Jasmine Paolini in the fourth round, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign was highlighted by a stunning third-round upset of defending champion and world No. 3 Iga Swiatek, with Ila winning 7-6 (9), 6-2.<\/p>\n<p>It was another breakout year for him with memorable performances at the 2025 Miami Open and 2025 US Open.<\/p>\n<p>After Wimbledon, Ila rose to a career-high No. 28 in the world in the WTA rankings.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline inline-photo full\">\n<figure><picture><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0714%2Fr1689347_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=570&amp;format=jpg, https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0714%2Fr1689347_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=1140&amp;cquality=40&amp;format=jpg 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0714%2Fr1689347_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=375, https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0714%2Fr1689347_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;cquality=40&amp;format=jpg 2x\" media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"\/><\/source><\/picture><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Her success sparked national support, with government agencies and private organizations holding public viewing parties across the United States for her fourth-round match against Paolini.<\/p>\n<p>\u201d<em>I&#8217;m very proud to be Filipino<\/em>\u201d Ira said in Malaca\u00f1ang.<\/p>\n<p>(I&#8217;m very proud to be Filipino.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI carry this flag with me wherever I go, and I strongly believe that where you come from is a big part of who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>President Marcos said he was excited to finally meet the country&#8217;s newest sports icon.<\/p>\n<p>During the ceremony, Eala presented the family with an autographed tennis ball and cap.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m excited because I&#8217;m a fan. I&#8217;m your true fan,&#8221; President Marcos said. \u201cI hope I get a chance to watch you someday, even if it\u2019s not a Grand Slam, even if it\u2019s a tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Ila assured President Marcos that wherever his career takes him, he will continue to represent the Philippines with pride.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs you say, Mr. President, I will do everything in my power to represent the best of our country on and off the court,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Because I&#8217;m really proud and it comes from genuine love.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MANILA &#8212; No Filipino athlete has had a warmer return home this year than tennis sensation Alexandra Ela. A day after returning to the Philippines after her historic Wimbledon run, she received a hero&#8217;s welcome at Manila&#8217;s Malaca\u00f1ang Palace and received the Presidential Citation from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday. The award recognizes Ila&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[345,9474,6798,9475,2534,24,274],"class_list":["post-50158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alex","tag-heros","tag-ila","tag-malacanang","tag-receives","tag-tennis","tag-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}