As part of our series in association with the Women’s Tennis Association, the world’s top tennis players will write for Metro.co.uk on a rotational basis ahead of each major tournament. Ahead of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the Premier 5 event on the WTA Tour, Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic discusses her rapid rise to the top of the sport and her subsequent challenges.
It came too soon.
I wasn’t prepared for the spotlight. The pressure. It was new for me.
Maybe it would have been better if I came up slower because it was really tough for me. It was tough to manage the expectations.
It all started for me at Tennis Club Oberuzwil in Switzerland. My father had been inspired by Martina Hingis winning the Australian Open and he and my mother played at the club near our house.
When I was two my parents took me there. I was just excited by tennis balls so that’s how I got into it.
After that, my dad was practising with me every day just throwing me balls and eventually I got a racquet playing more and more. I was pretty bad at the start, of course, but then I started playing tournaments and it all started to get serious.
Martina and Roger Federer made me believe anything is possible, even in a small country like Switzerland. I looked up to them and they really opened the way for the next generations.
I can’t remember the first tennis match I watched but I, of course, watched Roger win Wimbledon for the first time in 2003. After he won, I saw the trophy and it was so beautiful. I found it fascinating. I watched mostly women as well. Martina wasn’t playing at that time but I knew who she was.
Other players like Sharapova, Kirilenko, Ivanovic… they were also up-and-coming 17, 18 year olds and they were so beautiful. As a small girl, I admired them a lot. I always wanted to be a pro tennis player so, for me, there was no different way. That’s how I got into it.
Roger and Martina have both had big impacts on my career. They’ve given me a lot of advice. To have such great champions give you advice and just talk to them, learn so much from them… I really appreciate having that contact.
Martina and her mum – who was my coach for a long time – taught me the basics of the game, how to start and play well.
Of course, I met Roger properly three years ago at Hopman Cup – although we first met when I was 10 – and he gave me more advice on how to properly plan my scheduling. That was very important.
He’s also given me emotional advice on the court, how to keep your emotions in control. And, you know, like mental stuff because he’s so good at that.
Playing doubles with each of them, it’s unreal. It’s hard to realise in that moment just how amazing it is.
I played with Martina, which is unbelievable because she’s such a good doubles player and she was guiding me around the court. She’s known me since I was small so she knows exactly how I play and what I do so she was passing on her experience and teaching me a lot.
Of course, playing with Roger Federer was incredible. I thought I was going to be really nervous but actually I was more nervous when he was watching my singles match in Hopman Cup than me playing with him! On the court I just felt very good playing with him.
He’s so supportive, he helps so much. It feels so easy being on his side of the net. And he makes it really easy for you to play with him.
They have both been really important for my career but now I think I can call them friends.
I was called the ‘next Martina Hingis’ when growing up. It’s natural people were going to say that but I’m definitely not her. She was an unbelievable player who achieved so much. It’s impossible to compare me with her. It’s a good sign that people compared me with her but it’s probably impossible for me to do what she’s done.
Martina won so much when she was so young but my own rise to world No. 7 when I was only 18 was tough to handle.
I knew from juniors a little bit what it’s like being the best there but it’s still something different. You play a good year and then you have to defend all those points. Injuries started creeping in for me. Now, I believe that everything happens for a reason so there was a deeper meaning behind me getting injured.
Being injured as a professional athlete is really difficult. But it completely changed my perspective.
After starting with a lower back injury, I fell into a circle of always coming back and injuring something else. It was two years of having pain in my body.
Belinda Bencic fact file
Nationality: Swiss
Age: 22
Highest ranking: 7
Current ranking: 15 (as of Monday 12 May
Best Slam result: QF (US Open, 2015)
Biggest title: Dubai, 2019
I would play a tournament, rest and then play again. Then came the wrist injury. I was out for six months and needed surgery. I’d gone from the top-10 to outside the top-300.
You don’t realise it when you’re always playing and you’re losing sometimes and you’re really upset about it. But when you’re injured your whole perspective changes.
You can’t run or play tennis or do all those things you don’t appreciate when you’re able to do them. Now I really appreciate when I get to play. Of course, I want to win and give my best but still being able to play at all is more amazing than not being able to play. I’ve learned from this and now I know the drill, I feel ready to come back.
It taught me a lesson of how to be grateful to play and grateful for the life I have, the life I’ve worked for. I definitely think it’s had a positive impact for the future to come.
I’ve had some great results since I’ve come back. I love to play the best players, it’s what we all work for. I’m not scared of that and playing well against these big players.
But actually the best moment was the first hit after my injury. That was honestly the best moment ever. When I was pain-free and I realised I was getting back… that was the best moment.
What the future holds? I don’t know.
I’m not that well known and I don’t want to be. I don’t think I should be known like Roger or Martina, that’s for sure. I might be recognised in tennis clubs but not on the street.
I see myself as a normal girl who is playing tennis but otherwise I don’t expect people to be crazy. I hope they see me in the same way like how I was before.
I’ve always wanted to be world No. 1. Winning a Grand Slam is amazing but it’s just a tournament. Being No. 1 means you’re the best tennis player in the world right now. For me, that’s just bigger. Obviously I want to win a Grand Slam as well but being No. 1 is my ultimate dream.
But in tennis you have no guarantees. You can’t make a plan. It’s very up and down. I’m a person who doesn’t like to talk big about things, I don’t want to hype things too much.
There’s no in 10 years, in five years. I definitely want to see myself enjoying the sport, staying healthy. Of course, I will give it my best, climbing up the rankings, getting good results but I don’t know where I’ll be in five years. If I win one more tournament or win a Grand Slam or be world No. 1… I don’t know.
It’s definitely my dream but there are no guarantees. That’s what I’m working for but we shall see.
I would definitely be happy when I retired if I retired right now. I would be pretty happy.
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