A note for Filipino fans: How should you really act at a tennis match?

August 13, 2026

MANILA – International tennis superstar Alex Eala is constantly (and deservedly) in the spotlight because of her string of solid runs in huge Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournaments—even winning the Mubadala DC Open, her first WTA 500 title. And because she’s on the grind, working these seemingly never-ending stops in a season, it can’t be avoided that she plays in places where there is enough of a Filipino diaspora population to fill what might have usually been empty stands.

With that come the strings of complaints about loud Filipino crowds who can’t seem to keep their passion in check whenever Eala plays.

Unspoken etiquette

These complaints come from both foreign and local fans here at home, who are generally embarrassed about how much noise these new Eala fans make. The main reason is because many Filipinos don’t really have much experience watching tennis live, with most used to watching basketball—a sport that highly encourages being loud and vocal.

The main reason is because many Filipinos don’t really have much experience watching tennis live, with most used to watching basketball—a sport that highly encourages being loud and vocal.

The other reason—and perhaps, the sport and its keepers’ major fault—is that tennis events don’t actually inform live viewers of proper etiquette the same way, say, a cinema or theater would tell you to turn your phones silent.They expect you to just know what to do—an oral tradition passed by word of mouth (I know because I’ve been told off, but for a different kind of faux pas at a live tennis event). But what the tennis world believes is common sense is not so common when you don’t actually tell people.

When can you make noise in a tennis match?

For those who are about to watch their first live tennis match—or those who simply don’t know the etiquette rules—here are the conventions of behavior.The most important rule is that there should be complete and utter silence during rallies—meaning, as long as a point is still being contested, nobody should be making a peep.That’s because the players on the court rely on concentration, and various audio cues: of the umpires making their calls, and of the racquet hitting the ball to react accordingly—especially when the ball flies at speeds of hundreds of kilometers per hour. The wisdom is that any other noise or sound can break that concentration and throw a point.

The only time fans can generally be allowed to make noise is in the interval between rallies: after the point is scored and before the serving player makes their serve

Not to mention, there are times when hostile crowds can be very damaging, especially to non-white players—the most famous incident of which is probably Venus and Serena Williams at Indian Wells in 2001.

The only time fans can generally be allowed to make noise is in the interval between rallies: after the point is scored and before the serving player makes their serve. It’s also best to wait for the umpire to declare the point.

I’ve seen Filipinos break this rule constantly out of pure, uncontrollable emotion. And honestly, I get it—that’s the natural reaction to anything dramatic on the court. The live crowds I’ve been part of at least react briefly to big and crucial hits, while I’ve seen videos of rowdy crowds from the televised international events.These loud fans are admittedly embarrassing (in the “nakakahiya kayo” sense) for others. But really, it’s only embarrassing when you’re a seasoned tennis fan who knows how to “behave” because you’ve had your natural instincts to make noise squashed out of you.

I’ve seen Filipinos break this rule constantly out of pure, uncontrollable emotion. And honestly, I get it—that’s the natural reaction to anything dramatic on the court

The elitist undertones of propriety

Of course, we shouldn’t forget to look at these norms and established etiquette with an eye that’s a bit more critical—especially as more and more Filipinos joining the tennis world through Eala have to “learn how to be proper.”

A history of the sport recounted by Atlas Obscura shows what many of us already know: Tennis and its norms were developed by the wealthy and aristocratic class. Both players and audiences were originally of the same social bracket, and that means the spectators were naturally prim and proper.

One major theory for the rule is that when the sport was slowly opened to the rest of society, its authority figures wanted to keep it the way it was—“civilized” with the air of a sport played in exclusive country clubs—to set it apart from the “rowdy” and “uncouth” masses, who came from basketball and baseball.

“[Tennis has] been a sport of privilege, so maybe there’s more resistance because people who play the sport and have that association don’t want to let go of that,” says Nancy Spencer, a tennis sociologist at Bowling Green University in Ohio, USA.

“[Tennis has] been a sport of privilege, so maybe there’s more resistance because people who play the sport and have that association don’t want to let go of that,” says Nancy Spencer, a tennis sociologist at Bowling Green University in Ohio, USA

Some players are divided on this. While many are used to the silence and decorum traditionally observed during a tennis match, other younger, more contemporary players invite the noise, even if it works against them sometimes. And other fans will counter-argue that if tennis demands precision and concentration, so does a sport like baseball, which is played in front of cheering crowds.

American player Frances Tiafoe defends the fans and welcomes looser behavior in the stands. “I like it when people are happy. I think fans should be able to come and go, move and talk during matches. Imagine going to a basketball game and not saying anything. Outside of that, we’re starting to change things to attract younger fans to tennis. There’s nothing like Arthur Ashe at night, everyone is drunk, and the atmosphere is crazy,” he says in an interview.

Naomi Osaka, who Eala just beat a couple of weeks ago, is also seemingly okay with crowd noise despite having been broken by racially charged versions of it early in her career. “I thought the crowd was really cool. These are the moments [that] I work for. I didn’t have a problem with the crowd at all. But I’m used to the New York crowd,” she said at the 2024 French Open.

The final answer

With the droves of new fans Eala is bringing to the sport, however, and the general natural behavior of spectators who aren’t as knowledgeable about norms, I guess the question is whether or not these “traditional values” of tennis will hold. Especially the more she wins and rises in rank.

Relatively smaller tennis events are already getting a boost to their gate numbers whenever Eala plays, proving her a guaranteed draw. With the attendance revenue will come the raucous energy, and that is the push-and-pull today’s tennis will have to deal with.

Intentionally disruptive and bigoted behavior is a different story, though. There’s no place for that in global sports today

Personally—and for whatever my opinion is worth—I still believe that trying to keep quiet and restrained is unnatural behavior for any sports fan. Intentionally disruptive and bigoted behavior is a different story, though. There’s no place for that in global sports today.Because I think sooner or later, the sport will start trending toward a change in long-held traditions—and it’ll all be because of how good Eala is.

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