It appears to show Eala arriving at a match carrying a tote bag emblazoned with a portrait of the vice president and the words “Sara Duterte 2028”.<\/p>\n
Duterte\u00a0 announced<\/a> in February she will run for president of the archipelago nation of 116 million in 2028 ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Screenshot of false post taken on September 4, with AI symbol added by AFP<\/p>\n The image\u00a0 circulated<\/a> across Facebook<\/a> as Eala’s rapid rise on the international circuit\u00a0 continued<\/a> to captivate Filipinos, helping spark a tennis boom in a country where the sport has long been viewed as the preserve of the elite ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The 21-year-old recently became<\/a> the first homegrown Filipino player to win a WTA Tour title after a breakthrough run in August in Washington, where she defeated former world number one Naomi Osaka and world number three Jessica Pegula ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Eala’s ATP Washington Open campaign has previously triggered speculation online about her political leanings after she competed in a green outfit, a colour associated with Duterte and her supporters. AFP has\u00a0 debunked<\/a> a false claim that she had spoken out to reject suggestions that she wore green to support Duterte.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Well done. Keep it up, Alex. Solid Duterte supporter,” one user commented, while another wrote: “Those who hate Sara will be fuming again.”<\/p>\n Altered with AI<\/p>\n But the image is not authentic. A\u00a0 reverse image search<\/a> found the original photograph was posted<\/a> on Instagram by sports journalist Dyan Castillejo on August 3 while covering the ATP Washington Open ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The image shows Eala arriving at the ATP Washington Open in a green outfit while carrying Nike’s Alex Eala Sampaguita\u00a0 Tote Bag<\/a>, part of a collection inspired by the sampaguita, the Philippines’ national flower ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The line was created as a tribute to the tennis star’s Filipino roots.<\/p>\n In Castillejo’s original photograph, the tote bag features the collection’s sampaguita-inspired floral design — not the portrait of Duterte shown in the circulating image.<\/p>\n Screenshot comparison of the AI-altered image (left) and Dyan Castillejo’s photo<\/p>\n When asked<\/a> by Castillejo about her green outfit during the tournament, Eala said she had been given several colour options and chose green, adding that she was glad people liked it ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n She made no reference to Duterte or her political leanings in the interview.<\/p>\n Screenshot of results from the SynthID detector<\/p>\n Further analysis using Google’s SynthID Detector<\/a>, a tool designed to identify AI-generated content, found a “high” degree of confidence that the manipulated image was made using the company’s AI tools ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n AFP has previously debunked other\u00a0 misinformation<\/a> about Eala.<\/p>\n![\"<span>Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/afp_factcheck_my_711\/fe82ebaa94db5d3ca50706342cacae06.jpg\"\/)
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