“I I definitely think I’m a better player now than I was before my pregnancy,” says Belinda Bencic as she reflects on her rise of more than 1,200 places in the world rankings since returning to competitive tennis as a new mother. By October 2024, Bencic had fallen as low as world number 1,213 when she stepped back onto the court with the feeling that baby Bella was being cared for by her husband, Martin Hromkovic, who was also her strength and conditioning coach is.
On January 11, 14 months since her comeback began, Bencic played against Iga Swiatek in the United Cup final in Sydney. The world number 2, and current Wimbledon champion, won the first set, but Bencic played supreme tennis as she brushed aside Swiatek 6-0, 6-3 in the next two sets to seal her ninth consecutive win of the week for Switzerland. Her imperious performance also ensured that Bencic was back in the world top 10.
Of course, Bencic has been an excellent player for years. She won the Olympic singles title in 2021 and was ranked No. 4 in the world at the start of 2020, but the odds are always stacked against a mother trying to make a lasting impact on the grueling WTA tour. The schedule is brutal, the demands of travel are challenging and the competitions have become more physically and psychologically draining. But the friendly and intelligent 28-year-old has conjured up one of the great sporting stories of the past year with remarkable conviction.
Bencic pauses for a moment when I ask her to explain why she thinks her tennis has improved since becoming a mother. “It’s hard to say why, but I’m definitely very focused on improving my game. I’m also pushed to do this because everyone else is getting better too. Tennis is progressing and it’s becoming more and more physical and just faster. But I also think my mentality is different. I focus more on the process and not so much on the results – which is funny because the results come too. Most of all, during the comeback we really worked hard on my physical fitness and with my movement on the court. That has really improved my game.”
She is also heartened by the fact that Bella doesn’t care whether a tennis match is won or lost. The little girl is just happy to see her mother when she comes home from court. “It’s completely true,” says Bencic with her famous laugh. “I’m still trying to win as much as I can and I really put my heart into playing well and getting the goal. But if that doesn’t happen, my world doesn’t collapse. I can leave everything else on the pitch and live a life without being measured by results.”
Did Bencic always believe she could make a successful return? “Yes, definitely. I’ve done it many times and come back from injury. I was very confident that I could do it again and I feel like once you get to the top 20, top 10, multiple times, you can always do it. That gives you confidence and it definitely helped with everything.”
She explains: “I didn’t really play during the pregnancy. I didn’t really feel like it and was maybe a little scared. I was actually just enjoying my free time. After I was three months pregnant, I didn’t bat anymore. And then I hit my first ball, three months after giving birth. I took it very easy at first on a small field where I only felt the ball, and then worked more on my fitness. I built that up step by step.”
Bencic and her team also made a crucial choice when they decided to return to competitive play in small Challenger events outside the main WTA tour. “Absolutely,” she says. “That’s what I felt most comfortable with, because it’s very arrogant to think that you can just stop playing and then, right after pregnancy, go right back to the level you were at before. It doesn’t work that way. I don’t want to go to [WTA] tournaments and keep losing in the first round and then not having enough match play or enough confidence. It’s much better to start in smaller tournaments, just to test myself and see the level.
“I was still breastfeeding the first four tournaments I played and we had to figure out the schedule with Bella. How are we going to make this work? We didn’t really want to get into the highest level of competition before trying these things out.” It was a very different challenge because you feel tired and you also feel like you are playing with a different body. And you have to work out all the timings. I once had to play three sets and I was stressed about having to let go of the milk and also that Bella was getting hungry.
“But for me, the most important thing was always not to sacrifice what Bella needed. She was always first in my priorities. If it hadn’t worked out, I wouldn’t have done it, but we found a good schedule.”
Bella is with her parents in Melbourne, but Bencic is emphatic when I ask if she has a big support team helping her prepare for the first Grand Slam of the year. “Actually no, we don’t have anyone here. It’s just Martin who takes care of her and we have my coach [Iain Hughes] also. So there are three and a half of us traveling at the moment. We don’t really want to get a babysitter because we want to keep her close to us. We want Bella to grow up with us and not with anyone else. So that’s all good, but it’s a challenge – especially for Martin. But he’s such a great dad and he’s with her 24/7. He also works with me so we take Bella to the gym. Somehow we will succeed. But we don’t really have a plan – we just take it day by day and kind of roll with it.”
Bencic laughs again before explaining that when she faces Katie Boulter in the first round on Monday: “Martin and Bella will come with me on site. We will do the warm-up together but then he will stay with her in the players’ room or the restaurant while I go out to play. If she is asleep he can watch some of my match.”
Has Bencic had time to absorb the significance of her staggering rise up the rankings? “I haven’t had much time to let that sink in and to be honest I don’t really want to focus on it right now. My main focus is on the Australian Open, but once that’s over we can take the time to say, ‘Well done – we made the top 10 a year ago.’ Even last year, when I finished 2025 as number 11 in the world, I was emotional and proud.”
She adds, “At first you can’t really expect it to happen because it’s been so long. You wonder, ‘Hmm, can I really get to that level? How long is it going to take?’ There are many questions, but it is important not to focus too much on the long term. I had no expectations and I didn’t put pressure on myself in the timeline of my comeback. I really enjoyed it and lived in the moment. And when I started playing the first few tournaments, I realized that I still have the level to come back. But I was thinking about playing grand slams and maybe getting into the top 100, top 50. I didn’t know it would be a top 10 comeback. So it was certainly a surprise for us too.”
Bencic played well in a series of taxing matches at Wimbledon last summer, reaching the semi-finals, where Swiatek easily defeated her 6-2, 6-0. The memories of that defeat made the victory over Swiatek last Sunday all the sweeter. “It was a big win for me,” she says happily, “because at Wimbledon she completely killed me. I really tried to find another way to beat her in Wuhan [in October] and I came a little closer. She won 7-6, 6-4. And last week I tried a different approach. I’m really happy that it worked out and I can challenge myself against her because Iga is a really great champion.
Bencic is in such good form that some experts have suggested she is a real contender for the Australian Open. Does she have similar hopes? “Yes, for sure. But it’s funny. Before every Grand Slam, the media and tennis experts always talk about who has a chance and who doesn’t. And in the end it’s all different because you have to win seven matches in a row. You have to be completely sharp from the start and sometimes you can be in the best shape of your life and then you play a match and your opponent that day is just better. So I’m very careful with predictions. Obviously I can play great tennis and I’m at the same level with the top players, so that gives me a lot of confidence. But I actually want to just focusing on the first round and trying to work myself into the tournament and keep winning.
After everything she has achieved in the past year, as a recovered top 10 player and such a satisfied and happy mother, Bencic allows herself to look even higher for a moment. “You know,” she says, almost shyly, “my dream of winning a Grand Slam still continues. So yes, I’m going to try that, with everything I have. We’ll see if it works. I hope it works, and I really believe I can.”
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