Belinda Bencic
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Belinda Bencic ( sk, Belinda Benčičová, ; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss professional
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 by the
Women's Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tenni ...
(WTA) which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won six singles titles, including a gold medal at the
2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
, and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour. Born in Switzerland to Slovak parents at a time when another Slovak-Swiss player
Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...
was one of the best tennis players in the world, Bencic began playing tennis at the age of two. Her father arranged for her to train with Hingis's mother and coach daily from the age of seven. By the time she was 16, Bencic became the No. 1 ranked junior in the world and won two junior Grand Slam singles titles at the
French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
and
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
. On the professional tour, she made her top 100 debut shortly after turning 17. Her first big breakthrough came at the 2014 US Open, where she became the youngest quarterfinalist since Hingis in 1997. Bencic won her first two WTA Tour titles in 2015, including the Canadian Open where she defeated four of the top six players in the world. She then made her top-ten debut the following year while still 18 years old. From 2016 through 2018, Bencic struggled with a variety of injury issues, most notably needing to have wrist surgery in 2017 that kept her out for five months and saw her drop outside the top 300 in the
WTA rankings The WTA rankings are the ratings defined by the Women's Tennis Association, introduced in November 1975. Iga Świątek is the current world No. 1. Ranking method The WTA rankings are based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system. A play ...
. Nonetheless, she rebounded quickly and rose back into the top 50 within a year of her comeback. She then posted her best season to date in 2019, winning her second Premier-5 title at the Dubai Championships reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open, qualifying for her first
WTA Finals The WTA Finals (formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships or WTA Championships) is a tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) played annually at the end of the season. The event is uniquely reserved for players at the top of the WTA ...
where she reached the semifinals, and finishing the year inside the top 10 for the first time, which helped her win the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award.


Early life and background

Bencic was born in
Flawil Flawil is a municipality in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland with slightly over 10,000 inhabitants. It is the regional centre of Untertoggenburg, but belongs to the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Wil. History Flawil is first mentioned ...
in northeastern Switzerland to Dana and Ivan Benčič. Her parents were both born in
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
, but her father's family emigrated to Switzerland in 1968 to escape from the Warsaw Pact invasion by the Soviet Union. Her father was a professional hockey player in the Swiss
National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league ha ...
and
National League B The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, the ...
before becoming an insurance broker. Her mother was a high-level
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
player. Bencic hit her first tennis balls at the age of two and began training with her father, who was also a recreational tennis player, for one hour per day at the age of four. She entered her first national tournament at that age, losing to an opponent six years older in straight sets without winning a game. Bencic would regularly face much older opponents as a child and was encouraged by her father to try to win two games per set. When Bencic was five years old, her father contacted fellow Czechoslovak immigrant Melanie Molitor, the mother and coach of world No. 1 Swiss tennis player,
Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...
, for coaching advice. Hingis becoming the top player in the world around the time Bencic was born was also one reason her father was inspired to introduce her to the sport of tennis. Molitor agreed to gauge Bencic's abilities, which led to Bencic working with Molitor once a week for about a year. At the age of six, Bencic also spent six months at
Nick Bollettieri Nicholas James Bollettieri (July 31, 1931 – December 4, 2022) was an American tennis coach. He pioneered the concept of a tennis boarding school, and helped develop many leading tennis players during the past decades, including Andre Agassi, J ...
's academy in Florida, winning several under-10 tournaments. Around this time, her father also asked Marcel Niederer, a childhood friend and fellow hockey player who had become an entrepreneur, if he could help sponsor his daughter's career. Niederer agreed to invest in Bencic, which gave her father the ability to quit his job so he could spend more time traveling with and coaching his daughter while she competed at tournaments. In 2004, when Bencic was seven years old, her family moved to
Wollerau Wollerau is a municipality in Höfe District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. It lies on the upper Zürichsee. Geography Wollerau has an area, , of . Of this area, 56.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 13.6% is forested. Of th ...
, where Molitor had just opened up her own academy, so that she could train there every day. She continued to work with Molitor through her teenage years, and has also occasionally worked with Hingis.


Junior career

Bencic is a former world No. 1 junior. She began competing on the
ITF Junior Circuit The ITF Junior Circuit is the premier level for worldwide competition among under-18 junior tennis players. Founded in 1977 with only nine tournaments, the 2011 ITF Junior Circuit offered over 350 tournaments in 118 countries. Mirroring the ATP an ...
in 2010 at the age of 13, reaching the final in her debut event at the lowest-level Grade 5 Luzern Junior Competition in Switzerland. In early 2012, Bencic won two high-level Grade 1 events at the Czech International Junior Indoor Championships and the Open International Junior de Beaulieu-sur-Mer in France, the first of which coming at 14 years old. She also made her junior Grand Slam debut, playing in all of the major tournaments except the Australian Open. Although she won just two matches in total in singles, she finished runner-up in doubles at both
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
and the US Open. She lost to the American team of
Taylor Townsend Taylor Townsend (born April 16, 1996) is an American professional tennis player. She reached career-high WTA rankings of world No. 61 in singles (July 2018) and No. 31 in doubles (December 2022). She also reached the doubles final of the 2022 ...
and
Gabrielle Andrews Gabrielle Rose "Gabbie" Andrews (born December 13, 1996) is an American professional tennis player. On October 22, 2012, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of 938. Andrews is best known for reaching the final at the 2011 US Open girls' ...
at both events, partnering with Ana Konjuh at the former and Petra Uberalová at the latter. Bencic closed out the year by winning her first Grade A title at the
Abierto Juvenil Mexicano The Abierto Juvenil Mexicano is a prestigious junior tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts in November in Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, ...
, losing just 15 games in six matches. Bencic did not play again on the junior tour until May 2013, instead opting to focus on professional events. When she returned to the juniors, she won her first five tournaments of the year and extended her win streak in singles to 39 matches. All of her titles were Grade 1 or higher, including three Grade A titles at the
Trofeo Bonfiglio The Trofeo Bonfiglio, also known as the Campionati Internazionali d'Italia Juniores, is a prestigious junior tennis tournament held on outdoor red clay courts in Milan. It is one of five Grade A tournaments, the junior equivalent of ATP Masters o ...
and two Grand Slam events, the
French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
and
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
. She defeated
Antonia Lottner Antonia Lottner (; born 13 August 1996) is a German tennis player. Lottner has won seven singles titles and six doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In June 2018, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 128. In April 2015, she p ...
in the French Open final and Townsend in the Wimbledon final. The victory over Townsend was a rematch of their quarterfinal at the French Open, which finished 9–7 in the third and final set. Bencic became the first player to win the girls' singles titles at the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Amelie Mauresmo in 1996. She was also the first Swiss girl to win a junior Grand Slam singles title since
Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...
in 1994, who won the same two titles that year. Bencic's win streak was ended at the European Junior Championships by
Barbora Krejčíková Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2, achieved on 28 February 2022, and on 22 October 2018, she became List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles ten ...
in the semifinals. Lottner then defeated her at the US Open in the quarterfinals in her last tournament of the year. She also had a third Grand Slam runner-up finish in doubles at the US Open, losing to the Czech team of Krejčíková and
Kateřina Siniaková Kateřina Siniaková (; ; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player who is the current world No. 1 in doubles. She is a six-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2018 and 2021 French Opens, 2018 and 2022 Wimbled ...
alongside
Sara Sorribes Tormo Sara Sorribes Tormo (; born 8 October 1996) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Sorribes Tormo has won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour. On the ITF Circuit ...
. With her success, Bencic became the world No. 1 junior in June and finished the season with the top ranking to earn the title of ITF Junior World Champion.


Professional career


2011–14: Newcomer of the Year, US Open quarterfinal at 17

Bencic entered her first professional tournament on the
ITF Women's Circuit The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. History It serves as a developmental ...
in March 2011 in
Fällanden Fällanden is a municipality in the district of Uster in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland, and belongs to the Glatt Valley (German: ''Glattal''). History Fällanden is first mentioned around 820 as ''Fenichlanda''. Geography Fällande ...
, Switzerland, shortly after her 14th birthday. She reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier, recording her first ITF main-draw win over compatriot Tess Sugnaux. Bencic made her WTA Tour qualifying draw debut at the
Luxembourg Open Luxembourg Open, Tennis tournaments in Luxembourg Indoor tennis tournaments Hard court tennis tournaments WTA Tour Kockelscheuer Recurring sporting events established in 1991 Autumn events in Luxembourg 1991 establishments in Luxembourg ...
towards the end of the year in October, losing in three sets to
Yulia Putintseva Yulia Antonovna Putintseva ( rus, Ю́лия Анто́новна Пути́нцева; , ''puh-TEEN-tseh-vah''; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist (twic ...
. She received a
wildcard Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...
into the main draw at the following year's event, where she lost her WTA Tour main-draw debut to
Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
. The tournament came a few weeks after Bencic had won her first two ITF singles titles in back-to-back weeks at
Sharm El Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh ( ar, شرم الشيخ, ), commonly abbreviated to Sharm, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is approximately 53,670 ...
in Egypt, also winning the doubles title in the first week. In 2013, Bencic progressed from $10k to $25k and $50k tier events. Her best results in the first half of the year were a singles semifinal at the $50K Indian Harbour Beach Pro Tennis Classic in the United States and a doubles title at the $25k event in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Bencic played in three WTA Tour main draws in the second half of the year. After losing at the
Swedish Open Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
in July, she won her first career WTA main draw match as a wild card at the
Pan Pacific Open The Pan Pacific Open ( ja, 東レ パン・パシフィック・オープン・テニストーナメント), currently sponsored by Toray Industries, is a women's outdoor hardcourt tennis tournament held annually in Tokyo, Japan. It is a WTA 500-l ...
against
Daria Gavrilova Daria Saville (née Gavrilova, born 5 March 1994) is an Australian professional tennis player. She represented Russia until 2015, before emigrating to Australia. She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 20 ...
. She also won a match the following week at the
Japan Women's Open The Japan Women's Open Tennis is a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. The event is affiliated with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and is an International-level tournament on the WTA Tour. As successor to ...
. In her last event of 2013, Bencic reached the semifinals of the $75k
Dunlop World Challenge The Dunlop World Challenge is a tournament for professional tennis players played on indoor carpet courts. The event is classified as a €35,000+H Challenger tournament for men and a $50,000+H ITF Women's Circuit tournament for women. It has bee ...
in Tokyo to break into the top 200 for the first time. She finished the year ranked at No. 184, a vast improvement from her ranking of No. 612 in January. Despite beginning 2014 well outside of the top 100, Bencic only played in WTA Tour-level events throughout the year. She made her Grand Slam debut at the
Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, qualifying for the main draw. She defeated
Kimiko Date-Krumm is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals of the 1994 Australian Open, the 1995 French Open and the 1996 Wimbledon Championships, and won the Japan Open a record four times. She reached a career-high ranking ...
in the first round in a matchup of the oldest and second-youngest players in the draw before losing to the eventual champion
Li Na Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 2 on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine WTA Tour singles titles including two Grand Sl ...
in her next match. Bencic did not win another main-draw match until April when she made it to the semifinals as a qualifier at the
Charleston Open The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...
in her first clay court event of the year. She defeated four top 100 players at the tournament, including No. 29
Maria Kirilenko Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko ( rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко, p=mɐˈrʲijə kʲɪrʲɪˈlʲɛnkə ; born 25 January 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A junior Grand Slam champion at the 2002 US Open a ...
and No. 11
Sara Errani Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With 9 singles titles and 27 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championship ...
. With this result, she also made her top-100 debut less than a month after turning 17. Her clay-court season ended at Roland Garros with another loss to No. 29 Venus Williams. Bencic improved on that result at each of her next two Grand Slam events. After reaching the third round at
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
, she made it to the quarterfinals at the US Open. During the tournament, she recorded the first two top-ten victories of her career over No. 7,
Angelique Kerber Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wim ...
, and No. 10,
Jelena Janković Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former tennis player. A former world No. 1, Janković reached the top ranking before her career-best major performance, a runner-up finish at the ...
, to become the youngest quarterfinalist at the US Open since Hingis in
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
. Her success at the Grand Slam tournaments helped her rise to No. 33 in the world at the end of the event. Bencic closed out the year by reaching her first career WTA tournament final at the
Tianjin Open The Tianjin Open is an International-level WTA tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket th ...
, where she finished runner-up to
Alison Riske Alison Riske-Amritraj (née Riske; born July 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 2019 and won her first WTA Tour title in October 2014 at the Tianjin Open. ...
. At the end of the season, she was named
WTA Newcomer of the Year This article lists the WTA Awards given by the Women's Tennis Association to players and coaches for achievements during a season or their careers. Player of the Year Doubles Team of the Year Most Improved Player Newcomer of the Yea ...
.


2015: Maiden WTA Tour title, Premier 5 title, world No. 12

Bencic struggled in the first half of 2015. Through the
French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
at the end of May, she won multiple matches in the same event only twice, reaching the fourth round at both the
Indian Wells Open The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...
and the Miami Open. At Indian Wells, she notably won a match against No. 5
Caroline Wozniacki Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...
, the highest-ranked player she had ever defeated at the time. Bencic lost in the opening round at the
Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
and the second round at the French Open. She began to turn her year around during the grass court season. In the lead-up to Wimbledon, she made her second and third career WTA finals. After finishing runner-up to
Camila Giorgi Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26, achieved on 22 October 2018. She is the current Italian No. 2, after Martina Trevisan. After winning her fi ...
at the
Rosmalen Grass Court Championships The Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, branded by its sponsored name as the Libéma Open since 2018, (formerly known as the Continental Grass Court Championships, Heineken Trophy, Ordina Open, UNICEF Open, Topshelf Open and RICOH Open), is a pro ...
, she won the
Eastbourne International The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour ...
over
Agnieszka Radwańska Agnieszka Roma Radwańska (; born 6 March 1989) is a Polish former professional tennis player. She won 20 career singles WTA Tour titles, two doubles titles, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 on 9 July 2012. Her achievem ...
for her maiden WTA title. Bencic then improved on her previous year's result at
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
by reaching the fourth round. At the Premier-level Canadian Open in August, Bencic produced her best performance of the year to win the title. During her run, she defeated six of the top 25 players in the world, including four of the top six, and her third victory of the year against No. 5, Caroline Wozniacki. In the last two rounds, she recorded her first victory over a current world No. 1 player in
Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
before beating No. 3
Simona Halep Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
in the final after Halep needed to retire in the third set due to heat illness. Serena had entered the tournament with only one loss on the season, having won the first three Grand Slam tournaments of the year. With the title, Bencic rose to No. 12 in the world. She ended the summer with a third round loss at the US Open to Venus Williams. Bencic reached another final later that month at the
Pan Pacific Open The Pan Pacific Open ( ja, 東レ パン・パシフィック・オープン・テニストーナメント), currently sponsored by Toray Industries, is a women's outdoor hardcourt tennis tournament held annually in Tokyo, Japan. It is a WTA 500-l ...
. During the event, she recorded two more top ten victories, including a fourth over Wozniacki, before finishing runner-up to Radwanska in their second final of the year. In early October, Bencic ended her season early due to leg and hand injuries. As a result, she withdrew from the
WTA Elite Trophy The WTA Elite Trophy is the second-tier year-end professional women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour. It is the successor event of the different format WTA Tournament of Champions, which took place from 2009–14. The Elite Trophy takes place ...
, the second-tier year-end championship, despite qualifying for the event.


2016–17: Top 10 debut, injury layoffs

Bencic returned to the tour for the Australian hardcourt season. She had a strong start to the year, reaching the semifinals at the Sydney International and losing in the fourth round at the
Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
to No. 5
Maria Sharapova Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...
. At the St. Petersburg Trophy, Bencic was the top seed and finished runner-up to
Roberta Vinci Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position. She also reached a career-high ranking of world No. 7 in ...
. This performance helped her enter the top 10 for the first time while still 18 years old, making her the first teenager in the top 10 of the
WTA rankings The WTA rankings are the ratings defined by the Women's Tennis Association, introduced in November 1975. Iga Świątek is the current world No. 1. Ranking method The WTA rankings are based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system. A play ...
since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009. After St. Petersburg, Bencic began to struggle. She retired from her second round match at the Miami Open and was forced to miss nearly the entire clay-court season due to a back injury, including the French Open. Bencic returned for the grass-court season, but could not match her level of success prior to being injured. She recorded multiple wins at just two more events the rest of the year, the Rosmalen Championships where she reached the semifinals and the US Open where she reached the third round. She also had to retire from her second-round match at
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
due to a wrist injury. As a result, Bencic fell to No. 43 in the rankings by the end of the season. Bencic continued to struggle at the beginning of 2017. She recorded just one WTA Tour singles match win through the first four months of the year. In late April, she underwent surgery on her left wrist that was expected to keep her out for several months. She did not return until September, at which point her ranking had dropped to No. 312 in the world. Bencic was able to rise back into the top 200 in just one week after winning her first comeback tournament, the $100k Neva Cup. She then received a wildcard to play at the
Linz Open The Linz Open, currently sponsored by Generali Gruppe, is a women's tennis tournament held in Linz, Austria. It is played on indoor hardcourts. The inaugural event took place in 1987 in Wels, Austria and was organized by the ITF as a $10,000 tou ...
and made the quarterfinals in her only WTA event before the end of the season. Bencic finished the year by winning three tournaments in a row in Asia. She won two
WTA 125 WTA 125 tournaments are an international series of professional women's tennis tournaments organized by the Women's Tennis Association since 2012. In the past (2012–2015) sometimes called the WTA Challenger seriesHua Hin Championships and the Taipei Challenger before also winning the $100k Al Habtoor Challenge in Dubai one month later. With these three titles, she moved back into the top 100, ending the year at No. 74 in the world.


2018: Slow ascent back into top 50

Bencic made her return to the Grand Slam tournaments at the
Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
. After upsetting the previous year's runner-up No. 5 Venus Williams, she was upset by qualifier
Luksika Kumkhum Luksika "Luk" Kumkhum ( th, ลักษิกา คำขำ; ; born 21 July 1993) is a Thai tennis player. She turned professional in 2011, and reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 66 on 19 November 2018. On 16 July 2018, she ...
in the next round. For the third consecutive year, Bencic was forced to miss a few consecutive months due to injury. A stress fracture in her foot sidelined her from mid-March to late May. Although she missed the rest of the clay-court season, she made her return at the
French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
and made it to the second round. She did better at
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
, matching her career-best result of a fourth-round appearance highlighted by a first-round upset of No. 6,
Caroline Garcia Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion. She is also a two-ti ...
, and saving four match points in her second-round win against Alison Riske. This performance put her back in the top 50. Later that summer, Bencic lost her opening round match at the US Open. In the last stage of the season, Bencic reached her only WTA final of the year, finishing runner-up to top seed and world No. 9,
Julia Görges Julia Görges (born 2 November 1988) is a German former professional tennis player. A former top-ten singles player, she was ranked as high as No. 9 in the world on 20 August 2018, and was ranked inside the top 15 in doubles, peaking at world No ...
, at the
Luxembourg Open Luxembourg Open, Tennis tournaments in Luxembourg Indoor tennis tournaments Hard court tennis tournaments WTA Tour Kockelscheuer Recurring sporting events established in 1991 Autumn events in Luxembourg 1991 establishments in Luxembourg ...
as a qualifier. After the end of the WTA Tour season, she entered several ITF and WTA 125 events to try to defend some of her rankings points from the previous year. Bencic won the $80k title at the Red Rock Pro Open in Las Vegas, but still dropped from inside the top 40 to No. 54 by the start of 2019.


2019: First Grand Slam semifinal, end of WTA title drought

Despite being back outside of the top 50, Bencic had a strong start to 2019. She reached the semifinals at the
Hobart International The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and is classed as an Interna ...
and made it to the third round at the
Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, losing to eventual finalist
Petra Kvitová Petra Kvitová, OLY ( , ; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 29 career singles titles, including two major titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and i ...
. Her next breakthrough came at the
Dubai Tennis Championships The Dubai Tennis Championships or Dubai Open (also known as the ''Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships'' for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships'' and the ''Dubai Duty Free Men's ...
. As an unseeded player, she defeated four top-ten players in last four matches to win her third WTA singles title and second at the Premier 5 level. In order, she recorded wins over No. 9
Aryna Sabalenka Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...
, No. 2 Simona Halep, No. 6
Elina Svitolina Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina ( uk, Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and 108 in doubles. Svitolina ...
, and No. 4 Petra Kvitová, all in three sets and two of which in a final set tiebreak. The title helped her rise from No. 45 to world No. 23. Bencic continued her win streak with a semifinal appearance at the
Indian Wells Open The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...
. She defeated two more top-ten players in No. 1,
Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...
, and No. 5 Karolina Plíšková before losing to No. 8, Angelique Kerber. In the lead-up to the French Open, Bencic produced another Premier Mandatory semifinal at the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
. She recorded another world-number-one win over Osaka, but could not defeat Halep in a tight three-set match. After the tournament, she moved up to No. 15. At the
French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
, she advanced to the third round for the first time, where she was defeated by No. 24
Donna Vekić Donna Vekić (; born 28 June 1996) is a Croatian professional tennis player and businesswoman. She has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour – at the 2014 Malaysian Open, at the 2017 Nottingham Open, and the 2021 Courmayeur Ladies Open. ...
. During the grass court season, Bencic made her second WTA final of the year at the Mallorca Open. After defeating top seed and world No. 6 Kerber, she finished runner-up to
Sofia Kenin Sofia Anna "Sonya" Kenin (born November 14, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) of No. 4 in the world, which she achieved on March 9, 2020. She was the 2020 WTA ...
despite having three match points in the second set. Like at the Australian Open and the French Open, she lost in the third round at
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
. Bencic only played the two Premier 5 tournaments in the lead-up to the US Open, with her best result a third round appearance at the Canadian Open. At the US Open, Bencic produced the best Grand Slam result of her career to date. In the fourth round, she defeated defending champion and world No. 1 Osaka for the third time this season. She went on to make the semifinals, where she lost to eventual champion
Bianca Andreescu Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (; born June 16, 2000) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 in the world, and is the highest-ranked Canadian in the history of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Andreescu ...
. This result put her back in the top 10 for the first time since June 2016. Bencic then finished the season strong by winning her second title of the year at the
Kremlin Cup The Kremlin Cup (russian: Кубок Кремля) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts, which was suspended in 2022. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and was a Premier Tournament on the WTA ...
as a wildcard. She defeated hometown favourite
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...
in the final, which helped her jump ahead of
Kiki Bertens Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever. Her career-high do ...
and
Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
to qualify for the
WTA Finals The WTA Finals (formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships or WTA Championships) is a tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) played annually at the end of the season. The event is uniquely reserved for players at the top of the WTA ...
for the first time. At the year-end championships, Bencic was grouped with
Ashleigh Barty Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley (given name), Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom. Notable people B *Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian ...
, Petra Kvitová, and Naomi Osaka, the latter of whom was replaced by Bertens after one match. After losing her opening match to Barty, Bencic defeated Kvitová and Bertens to advance to the knockout rounds. Her season came to an end with a semifinal loss to
Elina Svitolina Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina ( uk, Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and 108 in doubles. Svitolina ...
. She finished the year at No. 8 in the world. At the end of the season, Bencic won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year for her return to the top 10.


2020–21: Top 5 debut, two WTA 500 finals, Olympic champion in singles, Olympic silver in doubles

In February 2021, she reached the final of the
WTA 500 WTA may refer to: Organizations *Washington Trails Association *Whatcom Transportation Authority *Waskahegan Trail Association, the management board for the Waskahegan Trail *Water Transit Authority, former name of the San Francisco Bay Area Water ...
Adelaide International event. At the German Open, Bencic reached her second final in the season but lost, after a stunning comeback from the qualifier
Liudmila Samsonova Liudmila Dmitriyevna Samsonova ( rus, Людмила Дмитриевна Самсонова, , lʲʊdˈmʲiɫə sɐmˈsonəvə; born 11 November 1998) is a Russian tennis player. She also competed for Italy, from 2014 to 2018. Samsonova has a c ...
. She had not won a title on the WTA 500-level in two years since she won the title in Moscow in 2019. At the
2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
, Bencic beat
Jessica Pegula Jessica Pegula (born February 24, 1994) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings in singles and doubles of world No. 3, both achieved on October 24, 2022. She has won two singles titles and five doubles title ...
,
Misaki Doi is a Japanese professional tennis player. Her highest WTA rankings are No. 30 in singles and No. 77 in doubles. Doi reached two junior Grand Slam doubles finals – at Wimbledon in 2007 with Kurumi Nara, and at the Australian Open in 2008 ...
, French Open champion
Barbora Krejčíková Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2, achieved on 28 February 2022, and on 22 October 2018, she became List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles ten ...
and
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...
to reach the semifinals. A three-set victory over
Elena Rybakina Elena Andreyevna Rybakina (born 17 June 1999) is a Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is the reigning champion at Wimbledon and the first Kazakhstani player to win a title at a major. She is also the first to be ranked in the world's to ...
guaranteed Bencic a medal. She defeated
Markéta Vondroušová Markéta Šimková (née Vondroušová; ; born 28 June 1999) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of world No. 14 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Vondroušová finished runner-up at the 2019 French Open, ...
in the final, to become the first Swiss woman to win the gold medal in singles. Bencic also won silver in the women’s doubles, teaming up with
Viktorija Golubic Viktorija Golubic ( sr, Викторија Голубић, Viktorija Golubić; ; born 16 October 1992) is a Swiss professional tennis player. Golubic has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, two singles WTA Challenger titles, as well as ten s ...
. Bencic reached the quarterfinals of the US Open. Seeded 11th, Bencic beat
Arantxa Rus Arantxa Rus (; born 13 December 1990) is a Dutch tennis player. In 2008, she won the girl's singles title at the 2008 Australian Open – Girls' singles, Australian Open, defeating Jessica Moore (tennis), Jessica Moore from Australia in the final ...
,
Martina Trevisan Martina Trevisan (; born 3 November 1993) is an Italian professional tennis player. Trevisan is the current Italian No. 1, has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 24 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and in 2021 had a peak doubles r ...
,
Jessica Pegula Jessica Pegula (born February 24, 1994) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings in singles and doubles of world No. 3, both achieved on October 24, 2022. She has won two singles titles and five doubles title ...
, and
Iga Świątek Iga Natalia Świątek (; born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. She is currently ranked world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Świątek is a three-time major singles champion, having won the French Open in 202 ...
without dropping a set, before losing in straight sets to eventual champion
Emma Raducanu Emma Raducanu (born 13 November 2002) is a British professional tennis player. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 10 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) on 11 July 2022, and is the current British No. 1. Raducanu is the first British ...
.


2022: First WTA title on clay and a win over Serena Williams

Bencic started her season at
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, she defeated
Beatriz Haddad Maia Beatriz Haddad Maia (born 30 May 1996) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. On 22 August 2022, she reached a career-high in the WTA rankings in singles at No. 15. Haddad Maia has won two singles and four doubles titles on the WTA Tour, on ...
,
Océane Dodin Océane Dodin (, born 24 October 1996) is a professional tennis player from France. Ranked by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), she reached a career-high of 46 as a singles player in June 2017 and No. 375 in October 2017 as a doubles player ...
to reach the quarterfinals. Then she lost to eventual champion
Paula Badosa Paula Badosa Gibert () (born 15 November 1997) is a Spanish professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she achieved on 25 April 2022, and No. 124 in doubles, a ...
. At the
Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, Bencic lost to
Amanda Anisimova Amanda Anisimova ( ; , ; born August 31, 2001) is a Russian-American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA ranking of No. 21 in the world, and has been ranked in the top 100 since shortly after turning 17 years old. Anisimova has ...
in the second round. In St. Petersburg, she defeated
Veronika Kudermetova Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova; ; tt-Cyrl, Вероника Эдуард кызы Кадыйрмәтова, translit=Veronika Edward qızı Qadıyrmätova. (born 24 April 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has a career-high si ...
,
Kaja Juvan Kaja Juvan (born 25 November 2000) is a Slovenian tennis player who turned professional on 17 October 2016. Juvan has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 58, achieved on 6 June 2022, and peaked at No. 99 in the doubles rankings on 11 July ...
before she lost to eventual champion
Anett Kontaveit Anett Kontaveit (; born 24 December 1995) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 2 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 6 June 2022, making her the highest-ranked Eston ...
in the quarterfinals. At
Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
, she lost to
Clara Tauson Clara Tauson (born 21 December 2002) is a Danish professional tennis player. In 2016, at age 13, she became the youngest Danish champion in tennis. Caroline Wozniacki held the previous record when she won at age 14. Her career-high rankings are ...
in the first round. Bencic entered the
Indian Wells Open The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...
, and as the 22nd seed received a bye in first round, but then lost to
Kaia Kanepi Kaia Kanepi (; born 10 June 1985) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 15 on 20 August 2012 and has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour. Described as a 'resident Grand Slam upset spec ...
in second. She played in
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
seeded 22nd again, where she defeated
Marta Kostyuk Marta Olehivna Kostyuk ( uk, Марта Олегівна Костюк; born 28 June 2002) is a Ukrainian tennis player. She has career-high rankings of 49 in singles, achieved on 14 February 2022, and world No. 39 in doubles, reached on 19 Septem ...
,
Heather Watson Heather Miriam Watson (born 19 May 1992) is a British professional tennis player. A former British No. 1, Watson has won nine titles over her career, including the mixed-doubles title at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships partnering Henri K ...
, and
Aliaksandra Sasnovich Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich ( be, Аляксандра Аляксандраўна Сасновіч; born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian tennis player. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has rea ...
to reach her first Miami quarterfinal. Then she beat
Daria Saville Daria Saville (née Gavrilova, born 5 March 1994) is an Australian professional tennis player. She represented Russia until 2015, before emigrating to Australia. She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 20 ...
to made her first ever Miami semifinal. In the semifinal, she lost to Naomi Osaka. Bencic entered the
Charleston open The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...
as tenth seed and defeated
Wang Xiyu Wang Xiyu (; ; born 28 March 2001) is a Chinese tennis player. On 7 November 2022, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 50. On 27 May 2019, she peaked at No. 240 in the WTA doubles rankings. Junior career Junior Grand Slam ...
,
Linda Fruhvirtová Linda Fruhvirtová (; born 1 May 2005) is a Czech professional tennis player. In February/March 2023, she achieved career-high WTA rankings of 50 in singles and 221 in doubles. She made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2020 Prague Open, ...
and
Madison Keys Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 7 by the Women's Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's ...
to reach the quarterfinals. Then she beat world No. 3, Paula Badosa, for the first time in four meetings to make the semifinals. In the semifinals, she defeated
Ekaterina Alexandrova Ekaterina Evgenyevna Alexandrova ( rus, Екатери́на Евге́ньевна Александро́ва, links=no; ; born 15 November 1994) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has won three WTA singles titles, three WTA 125 titl ...
to reach her first WTA clay court final. Then she defeated fourth seed
Ons Jabeur Ons Jabeur ( ar, أُنْس جَابِر, ʾUns Jābir, ; born 28 August 1994) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of world No. 2 achieved on 27 June 2022. Jabeur is the curr ...
to win her first ever WTA clay-court title and sixth overall. However, Bencic lost to Ons Jabeur in the round of 16 at her next event, the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
. At the
French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
, she lost in the third round to
Leylah Fernandez Leylah Annie Fernandez (born 6 September 2002) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 13 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), achieved on 8 August 2022. Fernandez won her first WTA Tour title at the 202 ...
, in three sets, at her first meeting between them. Bencic entered in German Open as eighth seed. She made it to the final losing to top seed Ons Jabeur, en-route to the final she defeated a few top players, like Veronika Kudermetova and
Maria Sakkari Maria Sakkari ( gr, Μαρία Σάκκαρη, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her ...
. At
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
, she lost in the first to Wang Qiang.


National representation


Fed Cup

Bencic made her debut for the
Switzerland Fed Cup team The Switzerland women's national tennis team represents Switzerland in Fed Cup tennis competition and are governed by Swiss Tennis. They currently compete in World Group. Current team ''Most recent year-end rankings are used.'' History S ...
in 2012 at the age of 14. That year, she played in two doubles
dead rubber Dead rubber is a term used in sporting parlance to describe a match in a series where the series result has already been decided by earlier matches. The dead rubber match therefore has no effect on the winner and loser of the series, other than the ...
s with Amra Sadikovic, losing to the Australian pair of
Casey Dellacqua Casey Dellacqua ( ; born 11 February 1985) is a retired Australian professional tennis player and current commentator. Her best singles results on the WTA Tour have been semifinal appearances at the 2012 Texas Tennis Open and 2014 Birmingham ...
and
Jelena Dokic Jelena Dokic ( sr, Јелена Докић, Jelena Dokić; ; born 12 April 1983) is an Australian tennis coach, commentator, writer, and former professional tennis player. Her highest ranking as a tennis player was world No. 4, in August 2002. ...
and defeating the Belarusian pair of
Aliaksandra Sasnovich Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich ( be, Аляксандра Аляксандраўна Сасновіч; born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian tennis player. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has rea ...
and Darya Lebesheva. She played in her first live rubbers in 2014 when Switzerland were World Group II. Although Bencic won both of her singles matches against
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
over
Alizé Cornet Alizé Cornet (; born 22 January 1990) is a French professional tennis player. Cornet has won six singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, ITF Circu ...
and
Virginie Razzano Virginie Razzano (born 12 May 1983) is a former French professional tennis player. She won two WTA Tour singles titles, both of them in 2007. Razzano reached her career-high WTA singles ranking of world No. 16 on 14 September 2009. She represe ...
, her compatriots
Timea Bacsinszky Timea Bacsinszky ( hu, Bacsinszky Tímea; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player who won four singles titles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and 14 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. A for ...
and
Stefanie Vögele Stefanie Vögele (born 10 March 1990) is a former professional Swiss tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 on 11 November 2013. Her highest WTA ranking in doubles is 100, which she reached on 5 January 2015. O ...
lost their matches to set up a decisive doubles rubber. Bencic and Bacsinszky lost the match and the tie to Cornet and
Kristina Mladenovic Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (; sr, Кристина "Кики" Младеновић, Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a nine-time Grand Slam ch ...
. In the World Group II play-off round two months later, Bencic and Bacsinszky led Switzerland to a 4–1 win over
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, with Bencic winning one of her two singles matches. The following year, the duo swept their first three singles matches against
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
to advance to the World Group Play-offs. Although Bencic missed the play-off due to injury, Switzerland defeated
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
to return to the top-tier World Group the following year. In the World Group, Switzerland made it to the semifinals in both
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
and
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
. Bencic led the team to their 2016 first round over
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, winning both of her singles matches against
Andrea Petkovic Andrea Petkovic (, ; born 9 September 1987) is a German former professional tennis player. Born in Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia, to Serbian father Zoran and Bosniak mother Amira, she moved to Germany at six months old and turned professional in 2006 a ...
and Angelique Kerber as well as the decisive doubles rubber with Martina Hingis. She was injured for the next tie, a loss to the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
. The following year, Bencic split her two singles matches as Switzerland advanced 4–1 past France. She was named to the team for the semifinal round against
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
, but did not play in any of the live rubbers as she was dealing with a wrist injury at the time. In
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
, Switzerland were again eliminated by the Czech Republic, this time in the first round as Bencic lost both of her singles matches. She was unavailable for the play-off round due to injury, which Switzerland lost to
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
to fall out of the World Group. The next year, Bencic led her team to a victory over
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
in World Group II with two singles wins. However, she was unavailable as Switzerland lost their play-off tie to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
to keep them in World Group II. In 2022, team Switzerland won the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time in history. Bencic was among three other nominated players - Teichmann, Golubic and Waltert. On their way to the play-off, they beat Canada and Italy in Group A with losing an only match to Canada. In the semifinal, the Swiss team won against Czech Republic by winning both singles matches and advanced to the final. Once again, it was enough to win both singles matches against Australia and so they became the 2022 champions.


Hopman Cup

Bencic has competed at the
Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...
in January with
Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
for three consecutive years from 2017 through 2019. After finishing in second place in their round robin group to the eventual champions France in
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, the pair won the tournament in each of the next two years. In
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
, they won all nine of their round robin rubbers to set up a final against the German team of Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev. After Federer defeated Zverev and Bencic lost to Kerber, the Swiss team won the decisive mixed doubles rubber in straight sets for the title. During the
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
event, they were upset by the Greek team of
Maria Sakkari Maria Sakkari ( gr, Μαρία Σάκκαρη, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her ...
and
Stefanos Tsitsipas Stefanos Tsitsipas ( gr, Στέφανος Τσιτσιπάς, ; born 12 August 1998) is a Greek professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on 9 ...
in their last round robin tie, but still advanced to the final through the tiebreak criteria. In a rematch of the previous year's final, Federer again beat Zverev while Kerber again defeated Bencic. The mixed doubles rubber was much closer than in 2018 and came down to a winner-take-all point in the third-set tiebreak as part of the Fast4 format. Federer served the point, which Switzerland won in a long rally to win their second consecutive Hopman Cup.


Olympics

Seeded No. 9, she also represented her country in her first Olympic Games at
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, after having to skip Rio 2016 due to injury, where she defeated Roland Garros champion and eighth seed
Barbora Krejcikova Barbora (; ) is a Czech and Slovak female given name. It was derived from the Greek word ''barbaros'' ( el, βαρβαρος) meaning "foreign", a variant of " Barbara". It is the 36th most popular given name in the Czech Republic (as of 2007). ...
in the third round of the competition and the Roland Garros finalist and 13th seed Russian
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...
in the quarterfinals. She reached the final defeating 15th seed Kazakh
Elena Rybakina Elena Andreyevna Rybakina (born 17 June 1999) is a Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is the reigning champion at Wimbledon and the first Kazakhstani player to win a title at a major. She is also the first to be ranked in the world's to ...
in the semifinals booking Switzerland the first Olympic female singles final. She also advanced to the doubles final with
Viktorija Golubic Viktorija Golubic ( sr, Викторија Голубић, Viktorija Golubić; ; born 16 October 1992) is a Swiss professional tennis player. Golubic has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, two singles WTA Challenger titles, as well as ten s ...
, which she eventually won the Olympic silver medal in. Bencic became the fifth player to reach two finals at the same Olympic event since tennis returned at the Games in 1988, joining Serena and Venus Williams, Andy Murray and Nicolas Massu.


Playing style

Bencic has an all-court game, who possesses an aggressive playing style. She is regularly compared to former world No. 1 Martina Hingis, as both players are Swiss, of Slovak descent, and have been coached by Hingis's mother. Hingis has compared herself with Bencic, saying, "The technique, my mom puts a lot of attention to that. So the game, I mean, encic hasgot a great backhand as well. But also she’s stronger, so she can work with other weapons than I had. I mean, maybe I was more maybe a little better mover, but when she hits a shot it can be a winner. Like she’s hitting a lot more winners than did I. So it’s different a little bit." Tennis coach
Günter Bresnik Günter Bresnik (born 21 April 1961) is an Austrian tennis coach. Early years Born in Vienna to two physicians, he did not take up tennis until age 16; he studied medicine for four years at the University of Vienna. As Bresnik recalls, his caree ...
has called her an "unbelievably smart player” and noted that, “She understands the game really well and knows exactly how to throw the other player off." Bencic possesses a powerful first serve, peaking at 113 mph (182 km/h), allowing her to serve aces and dictate play from the first stroke of a point. Despite this, Bencic's second serve is a considerable weakness, and is heavily affected by nerves, meaning that she typically serves a large amount of double faults. Bencic possesses the ability to hit powerful
groundstroke In racket sports a groundstroke, or ground stroke, refers to a forehand or backhand shot that is executed after the ball has bounced on the court. The term is commonly used in the sports of tennis and pickleball, and is counter to a volley shot ...
winners, but she can also hit lob and drop shot winners when presented with the opportunity. When playing with Roger Federer at the Hopman Cup, he praised her prowess at returning serve. Bencic excels at hitting the ball early or on the rise, and is capable of turning defense into offense, excelling at redirecting cross-court shots down the line. Bencic is an accomplished opponent on all surfaces, although she has stated that her favourite surface is grass.


Coaches

As a junior, Bencic was coached by her father and Melanie Molitor, the mother of Martina Hingis. Molitor coached Bencic daily from 2004 to 2012, at which point her father Ivan again became her primary coach. In late 2017, she hired Iain Hughes during her recovery from wrist surgery. Vladimír Pláteník worked with Bencic in 2018 from Wimbledon in July until mid-October, at which point her father returned as her main coach. In their first tournament back together, Bencic reached the final at the Luxembourg Open. Bencic is currently coached by Russian tennis player Dmitry Tursunov.


Endorsements

Bencic has been endorsed by
Yonex () is a Japanese sports equipment manufacturing company. Yonex produces equipment and apparel for tennis, badminton, golf, and running. Its range of products manufactured and commercialised includes equipment for badminton and tennis (rackets, ...
for racquets since turning professional, and was endorsed by
Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
for clothing and footwear from 2011. In 2015, Bencic signed a 'top-to-toe' endorsement deal with Yonex, being supplied with clothing and footwear by the company, along with her racquets. In 2018, upon her return to professional tennis after a long injury layoff, Bencic became endorsed by
Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
for clothing and footwear. Bencic has used the Yonex EZONE 100 racquet throughout her professional career.


Personal life

Bencic has a brother named Brian who is three years younger and also plays tennis. He trained with her at Molitor's academy and was ranked as a top 200 junior in the world. She has both
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...
and Slovak citizenship.


Career statistics


Grand Slam tournament performance timelines


Singles


Doubles


Olympic Games


Singles: 1 (gold medal)


Doubles: 1 (silver medal)


References


External links


Official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bencic, Belinda 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from the canton of St. Gallen Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the United States Swiss female tennis players Swiss people of Slovak descent French Open junior champions Wimbledon junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles Hopman Cup competitors Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Switzerland Olympic silver medalists for Switzerland Olympic tennis players of Switzerland Olympic medalists in tennis Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics