Since Belinda Bencic‘s introduction onto the WTA tour in Luxembourg 2012, there has been no turning back for the tennis prodigy. On that day she would lose comfortably to Venus Williams in just her first WTA main draw appearance – but that was the beginning of a birth of a special talent in the women’s game of professional tennis.
After successfully breaking into the Top 10 of the world rankings, Bencic sustained a niggling back injury that ruined her clay court season completely. During her pre-tournament press conference today in Birmingham, she was very optimistic about her future performances on the grass.
“I feel good. I feel pain-free, which is the most important and I had four tough matches [in Rosmalen]”
Bencic was particularly honest with the way she feels about her game at this moment in time: “I think my game is a little bit rusty and not at the level that I want it to be,” she explained. “But it’s not normal because I cannot come back and expect to be at the best.”
The No.8 ranked player in the world also stressed her happiness at fighting through her matches in Rosmalen with all she had, even though she was realistic with not being at the optimum level she had hoped to have been at.
“I started training when it was at Rome – around that time,” Bencic explained.
Her late recovery from the persistent back injury played a big part in her decision to not play Roland Garros this year. She discussed her decision-making to a number of the journalists in her press conference.
“I mean physically I would have been ready for Roland Garros but I didn’t go because I wasn’t well-prepared. I didn’t play for five weeks so I could not just go there and expect to be able to play with the top players, so it didn’t make sense and i didn’t want to go there. It wouldn’t be professional.”
When asked whether she felt pressure over the amount of ranking points she is defending this grass season, she responded:
” No, why? I reached the Top 10 now. I can be very relaxed. There’s always some points to defend, so if you always put yourself under pressure and under stress I’m not sure it will change anything. If I’m No.8 or No.9 it’s the same thing. I think it’s a journey to your goal. It doesn’t matter what time you reach it, but if you reach it one day it’s good.”
Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber are two grand slam winners that surprisingly got the better of Serena Williams in their respective finals. Bencic was questioned whether those major success stories gave her confidence that she could do exactly what those two players did at major level.
“I beat both of them so actually it’s very positive for the other players because you feel like you can really do it as well, some day. It’s a really nice feeling and I’m very happy for both of them. It’s good to know that anyone can win a grand slam and maybe also me one day.”
Lastly, Bencic talked more about her career-defining victory over Serena Williams in Canada last year, in which she beat Williams 6-4 in the 3rd set.
“I think the first time I played her it was definitely I had too much respect. I was so nervous, almost too respectful to be on the same court with her. In Toronto I tried to ignore who she is, and just to play my game against her. I think the key was that I never felt safe to win the match. Always I had 4-0, 5-1 but I still didn’t feel ok because Serena always turns matches like this around. That’s why when it was the match point and I won I actually couldn’t believe it because I wasn’t thinking of really beating her. I just played it point after point.”
Belinda Bencic starts her grass season against Irina-Camelia Begu tomorrow – a player that had a fantastic clay season last month.
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