Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic is finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel after enduring months of injury setbacks and plummeting down the rankings.
The 20-year-old was once tipped to be the next Martina Hingis. A former world No.1 in the juniors, Bencic cracked the top 10 at the age of 18 in February 2016. By that time she had already reached a series of WTA Finals, winning two Premier titles in Eastbourne and Toronto. Everything was going in the right direction until disaster struck.
Bencic’s progression on the tour was halted by a numerous injuries occurring in 2016 and 2017. Thigh and back (coccyx) problems forced her to miss a series of events, but it was her wrist that was the most troublesome. She was forced to undergo surgery on her wrist earlier in the year, resulting in the Swiss player missing almost five months of the tour.
It is easy to forget Bencic’s misfortunes given her recent surge on the tour. In September she won an ITF $100,000 tournament in St.Petersburg, Russia. Her first title since 2015. Following on from that, she won back-to-back WTA 125 titles in Thailand and Chinese Taipei last month.
“Obviously I’m just enjoying to play again and I haven’t expected to play that many matches but I’m super happy to get the confidence back and the matches back, the rhythm back, so I hope I can continue here like that and we’ll see.” Bencic told Sport 360 in an exclusive interview.
Despite it officially being the off season, Bencic isn’t finished playing tournaments. This week she is seeded fifth at the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge. A $100,000 ITF tournament played in Dubai. In a city where she will also be training ahead of the 2018 season, Bencic seized upon the opportunity to combine practice with play. Illustrated by her first round win over Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko.
“It’s the first time I’m doing it actually. I would be here doing the preparation anyway and I have a tournament in front of my nose so why wouldn’t I play it? I think it’s good because we can figure out how that works for the first time so we’ll see and until now it’s good and I’m enjoying it,” she explained.
Guiding Bencic on the tour is coach Iain Hughes. The former coach of Elina Svitolina. Prior to the appointment of Hughes in July, it was Bencic’s father, Ivan that oversaw her performance.
“I’m very happy we’re working great together I think, it’s definitely showing. I mean my father was here too, he’s still supporting me and watching every match but he’s more traveling with my brother now.”
Bencic will face Tereza Martincová in the second round of the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge later today. Regardless of the outcome, she is on course to play at the Australian Open in what will be her first grand slam main draw appearance for 12 months.
Looking ahead to the new year, Bencic isn’t thinking too far ahead. Instead, her focus is on taking things slowly. An unsurprising revelation by a player that has already been hampered with a wide range of injuries at a young age.
“I’m still taking it step by step, it was a bonus that I actually qualified for the Australian Open. I was expecting to play the qualies so I’m actually taking it much easier now,” she stated.
Bencic has been ranked as high as seventh in the world.
