“I definitely think I’m a better player now than I was before my pregnancy,” Belinda Bencic says as she reflects on climbing more than 1,200 places up the world rankings since returning to competitive tennis as a new mother. In October 2024 Bencic had plummeted to a lowly spot as world No 1,213 when she stepped back on to court feeling secure that baby Bella was being looked after by her husband, Martin Hromkovic – who is also her strength and conditioning coach.
On 11 January, 14 months since her comeback began, Bencic played Iga Swiatek in the final of the United Cup in Sydney. The world No 2, and current Wimbledon champion, won the first set but Bencic played supreme tennis as she swept Swiatek aside 6-0, 6-3 in the next two sets to seal her ninth consecutive victory of the week for Switzerland. Her imperious performance also meant that Bencic was back in the world top 10 again.
Of course Bencic has been a fine player for many years. She won the Olympic singles title in 2021 and has been ranked as high as world No 4, in early 2020, but the odds are always stacked against a mother trying to make a sustained impact on the gruelling WTA tour. The schedule is relentless, the demands of travel are challenging and the matches have become even more intensely physical and psychologically draining. But the friendly and intelligent 28-year-old has conjured up one of the great sporting stories of the last year with remarkable conviction.
Bencic pauses when I ask her to explain why she believes her tennis has improved since she became a mother. “It’s difficult to say why but I’m definitely very focused on trying to make my game better. I’m also pushed to do this because everyone else is getting better too. Tennis is moving forwards and it’s getting more physical and just faster. But I also think my mindset is different. I’m focusing more on the process and not so much on the results – which is funny because the results are coming as well. Most of all, in the comeback, we really worked hard on my physical fitness and with my movement on the court. That has really made my game better.”
She is also bolstered by the fact that Bella doesn’t care whether a tennis match has been won or lost. The little girl is just happy to see her mum when she comes off court. “It’s very true,” Bencic says with her familiar laugh. “I still try to win so much and I really put my heart into playing well and getting the goal. But then, if that doesn’t happen, my world doesn’t crash. I am able to leave everything else on the court and have a life without being measured by results.”
Did Bencic always believe she could make a successful return? “Yes, for sure. I’ve done it many times and come back from injury. I was very positive that I could do it again and I feel like once you reach the top 20, top 10, multiple times, then you can always do it. That gives you belief and it definitely helped with everything.”
She explains that “I didn’t really play in pregnancy. I didn’t really feel like it and I was a little bit scared, maybe. I was basically just enjoying my time off. After being three months pregnant I didn’t hit any more. And then I hit my first ball after three months postpartum. I took it really easy at first on a small court where I was just feeling the ball and then working more on fitness. I then built that up step by step.”
Bencic and her team also made a crucial choice in deciding to return to competitive play in small Challenger events away from the main WTA tour. “Absolutely,” she says. “That’s what made me most comfortable because it’s really arrogant to think that you can just stop playing and then, right after pregnancy, get straight back to the level you’d been 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 have enough matchplay or enough confidence. It’s much better to start in smaller tournaments, just to test myself out, and see the level.
“I was still breastfeeding in 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 throw ourselves into the highest level of competing before trying these things out. It was a very different challenge as you’re feeling tired and you also feel you’re 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 it was always most important not to sacrifice anything that 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 looking after her and we have my coach [Iain Hughes] as well. So we’re travelling with just the three and a half of us at the moment. We really don’t want to take a nanny 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 challenging – especially for Martin. But he is such a great father and he’s with her 24/7. He’s also working with me and so we take Bella to the gym with us. We somehow manage it. But we don’t really have a plan – we just do it day by day and we’re kind of winging it.”
Bencic laughs again before explaining that when she faces Katie Boulter, in the first round on Monday: “Martin and Bella will come on site with me. We will do the warm-up together but then he will stay with her in the players’ area or the restaurant while I go out to play. If she’s sleeping then he can watch a little of my match.”
Has Bencic had time to absorb the significance of her dizzying climb up the rankings? “I didn’t have so much time yet to let that sink in and, to be honest, I don’t really want to focus on it right now. My main focus is the Australian Open but, once that’s over, we can take time to just say: ‘Well done – one year back and we made it to the top 10.’ Even last year, when I finished 2025 as No 11 in the world, I was emotional and proud.”
She adds: “At the start you cannot really expect it to happen because it’s such a long way back. You wonder: ‘Hmm, can I really get to that level? How long is it going to take me?’ There are a lot of questions but it’s important not to focus so much on the long term. I had no expectations and I wasn’t putting myself under pressure in the timeline of my comeback. I just really enjoyed it and lived in the moment. And then when I started to play in the first couple of tournaments I realised that I still have the level to come back. But I was thinking about playing grand slams and maybe making the top 100, top 50. I didn’t know that it’s going to be a top 10 comeback. So it’s definitely also been a surprise to us.”
Bencic played well in a series of taxing matches at Wimbledon last summer and she reached the semi-finals – where Swiatek beat her easily 6-2, 6-0. Memories of that defeat made 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 got a bit closer. She won 7-6, 6-4. And then last week I tried another different approach. I’m really glad that worked out and I’m able to challenge myself against her because Iga’s a really amazing champion.”
Bencic is on such a hot streak of form that some pundits have suggested she is a real contender at the Australian Open. Does she harbour similar hopes? “Yes, for sure. But it’s funny. Before every grand slam the media and tennis experts always talk about who has a shot and who doesn’t. And at 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 form of your life and then you play a match and your opponent is just better on that day. So I’m really cautious with predictions. Obviously, I can play great tennis and I’m on the same level with the top players. So that gives me a lot of confidence. But I really just want to focus on the first round and try to work myself into the tournament and keep winning.”
After all she has achieved over the last year, as a restored top-10 player and such a fulfilled and happy mother, Bencic allows herself, just briefly, to look even higher. “Well, you know,” she says, almost shyly, “my dream of winning a grand slam still continues. So yes, I’m going to try to do that, with everything I have. We’ll see if it works out. I hope it does, and I do believe I can do it.”
