NEW YORK — In a small room on the second ground of an Episcopal church in Queens, a big printer beeps and whirs, spitting out posters inked with vibrant yellow tennis balls. Fluorescent prints line the partitions; a bible sits on the desk. The track “Salamin, Salamin” by Filipino lady group Bini performs from a pc.
That is the place Pau Tiu, 32, has spent the week designing and printing posters, in help of rising Filipino tennis star Alex Eala.
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Simply 4 miles away, Eala beat the US’ Mary Stoiana, 6-1, 6-2 Tuesday evening in her 2026 U.S. Open debut. On Thursday, she’s going to tackle Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova in Louis Armstrong Stadium, the place a brand new run of posters from Tiu’s studio, Dangerous Pupil, will function within the crowd.
Eala has been making tennis historical past for years, representing a rustic that loves to point out up for its stars. In August, the 21-year-old grew to become the primary Filipino participant to win a WTA Tour singles title, beating No. 3 Jessica Pegula within the D.C. Open last. In Washington, simply as in Toronto, Dubai, Melbourne and different cities everywhere in the world, the Filipino diaspora got here out in droves to help their new heroine.
Tuesday evening in Queens was no totally different, as Eala followers crammed the 14,000-capacity Louis Armstrong Stadium with Filipino flags and roaring cheers.
Up within the stands sat Tiu, who gave out customized posters studying “LABAN ALEX” — which interprets to “Battle, Alex”— to fellow Filipino followers of their row. The posters embrace a Sampaguita, the Philippines’ nationwide flower, which Eala’s clothes sponsor, Nike, featured on a a visor at Wimbledon, the place Eala introduced herself to the broader sports activities world by beating defending champion Iga Świątek.
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“We’re all linked, cheering her on. So it is such a wonderful factor to be a part of,” Tiu mentioned throughout Eala’s first set Tuesday evening. “It is loopy to be surrounded with so many Filipinos, and I really feel I am simply again at house, and there is a lot spirit of group, or as we are saying, kapwa.”
Tiu and their spouse, Felize Camille, moved to the US two years in the past so the 2 of them might legally marry and reside out of the closet. Identical-sex marriage shouldn’t be authorized within the Philippines, and the couple needed to disguise their relationship.
They as soon as went on a secret date to a printing class in Singapore, the place they discovered risograph, a mode of printmaking utilizing fluorescent ink and an office-sized printer. A number of years later, Tiu began Dangerous Pupil.
“It is the thought of being dangerous at one thing first earlier than you get good at it,” Tiu mentioned concerning the studio’s title. “I am all the time a pupil, all the time studying, however giving my permission to be dangerous offers me this freedom to only discover it and have enjoyable and do what I need.”
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Since then, Tiu and Camille have printed artwork and taught workshops out of the church. Throughout the NBA Finals, they printed a run of posters for the Knicks.
“I instructed my spouse one among my bucket listing (gadgets) was to expertise sports activities in New York, as a result of I’ve solely simply learn it, watched it on TV, watched it replayed, all the pieces, absorbed the tradition from afar,” Tiu mentioned.
In July, when Eala went viral for her horizontal forehand in opposition to Świątek, Tiu’s father requested a poster for the fledgling star.
“He has been nagging me since Wimbledon,” Tiu mentioned.
Tiu began watching tennis a number of years in the past, and attended one of many U.S. Open’s free days final week. After they acquired a ticket to Eala’s match on Tuesday, they lastly took their dad up on his request, drawing inspiration from classic posters they delivered to the U.S. from house.
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“That is very a lot within the language of Filipino design,” Tiu mentioned
On Wednesday, Tiu was again at their printer, designing a brand new run for Eala’s subsequent match. This time, they drew inspiration from a lottery commercial they noticed in New York.
After perfecting the design on their pc, Tiu loaded a drum of yellow ink into the printer. It whirred and spit out one other “LABAN ALEX” poster, this time with a row of tennis balls. They loaded up the blue ink, and ran the sheet by way of once more.
“That is huge for the Philippines,” Tiu mentioned. “I really feel like I am a part of historical past, and my household is again house awaiting each picture, each video that I despatched to them and so they’re watching reside too.”
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When Tiu got here to the U.S., they left behind a second risograph printer on the studio of their household house within the Philippines. As soon as they completed the brand new design Wednesday afternoon, Tiu despatched the file to their brother, Kiko, and his companion, Ashley Palabrica, who run the Philippines department of Dangerous Pupil. Greater than 8,500 miles away, they printed the very same “LABAN ALEX” poster, as tennis followers throughout the Philippines put together to tune in midway the world over, regardless of the 12-hour time distinction.
“I really feel like I am in a portal again house… The presence of Filipinos right here is so sturdy, and simply listening to the language being spoken so loudly in all places I’m going, it warms my coronary heart,” Tiu mentioned. “It is a part of the magic that’s Eala-mania.”
This text initially appeared in The Athletic.
Sports activities Enterprise, Tradition, Tennis, Ladies’s Tennis
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