Belinda Bencic is a Swiss professional tennis player, who has a career-high ranking of No 4 by the WTA. She has won eight career singles titles, including a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Belinda Bencic was born on March 10, 1997, in Flawil, Switzerland. She started in tennis at a young age and quickly showed her great talent. At the age of six, she spent six months at Nick Bollettieri’s academy in Florida, winning several U10 tournaments. Later, she became junior number one, winning the titles at Junior French Open / Roland Garros and Junior Wimbledon in 2013, as well as the Abierto Juvenil Mexicano, 2015 Czech International Junior Indoor Championships, and being a runner-up at the 2011 European Junior Championships.
Belinda Bencic made her professional debut in 2011, playing at the ITF Circuit tournament $10,000 Fallanden (Switzerland) and reached the quarter-finals. During the season she also played at the $50,000 Monzon (Spain), $25,000 W25 Chiasso (Switzerland), and $25,000 Lenzerheide (Switzerland), but did not overcome the first round to none of them.
In 2012, Belinda Bencic won her first ITF title, triumphing at the $10,000 W15 Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt) twice. She mainly played at the ITF Junior Tour but also took part at the $10,000 Leimen (Germany), where reached the quarter-finals.
In 2013, Belinda Bencic made a fantastic run on the junior tour, winning the titles at the Junior French Open / Roland Garros and Junior Wimbledon. At the senior level, she debuted at the WTA Tour, playing in the main scheme of the WTA 250 Ericsson Open. By the end of the season, she reached the second rounds of the WTA 1000 Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis and WTA 250 HP Open, the semi-finals of the $25,000 Hamamatsu (Japan) and $75,000+H Toyota (Japan), as well as the final of the $25,000 Makinohara (Japan).
Belinda Bencic already gained enough experience and in 2014 debuted in the Grand Slam main scheme, reaching the second round of the Australian Open. In March same year, she made her first breakthrough in the WTA tournament, reaching the semi-finals of the WTA 500 Credit One Charleston Open. This gave her a good start and at the end of the summer, Belinda Bencic made another great performance at the US Open, reaching the quarter-finals. In the end of the season, she played her first WTA final at the WTA 250 Tianjin Open but lost in a straight set to Alison Riske-Amritraj (USA). Thus, she entered the world’s Top 50 and finished the season as WTA No 32.
In 2015, Belinda Bencic settled as one of the top tennis players. Although she did not have a good start to the season after losing in the first rounds of the WTA 500 Sydney International, Australian Open, and WTA 500 BNP Paribas Diamond Games, she slightly got into form and reached the third round of the WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open and the fourth round of the WTA 1000 Miami Open. During the summer she played her second WTA final at the WTA 250 Libema Open but lost to Camila Giorgi (Italy). However, just two weeks later, Belinda Bencic won her first WTA title at the WTA 500 Rothesay International Eastbourne and also reached the fourth round of the Wimbledon. In August the same year, she won her most prestigious trophy, triumphing at the WTA 1000 Canadian Open (Rogers Cup) and by the end of the season reached the final of the WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis. Thus, she climbed to the world’s No 12 for a while but finished the season as WTA No 14.
In 2016, Belinda Bencic started strongly the season, reaching the semi-finals of the WTA 500 Sydney International and the fourth round of the Australian Open. She was the runner-up at the WTA 500 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and reached the semi-finals of the WTA 250 Libema Open. However, she did not perform strongly by the end of the season and lost positions in the WTA ranking, falling to No 43.
The drop in Belinda Bencic’s form continued also in 2017 when she failed to make some significant success in the WTA Tour and returned back to lower-rated tournaments. She won the titles at the WTA 125 Taipei OEC Open and WTA 125 Hua Hin Championships, as well as $100,000 W100+H Dubai (UAE) and $100,000 Saint-Petersburg (Russia), gaining more experience to return to the big tennis.
In 2018, Belinda Bencic started by reaching the second round of the Australian Open and WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open, but a stress fracture in her foot sidelined her from mid-March to late May. She returned at the French Open / Roland Garros but again lost in the second round. She did better at Wimbledon, where reached the fourth round, which returned her to the world’s Top 50. By the end of the season. her biggest achievements were the runner-up at the WTA 250 BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open and winning the title at the $80,000 W80 Las Vegas, NV (USA).
In 2019, Belinda Bencic returned to the big tennis, starting the season fantastic with the semi-finals of the WTA 250 Hobart International and the third round of the Australian Open. Then, she won the WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and reached the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open, before reaching the quarter-finals of the WTA 500 Credit One Charleston Open. She continues playing at the top level, reaching the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 Madrid Open and the third round of the French Open / Roland Garros. Belinda Bencic lost another final at the WTA 250 Mallorca Open and reached the third round of the Wimbledon, before coming to her great performance at the US Open, where reached the semi-finals, losing to the later champion Bianca Andreescu (Canada). At the end of the season she won the title at the WTA 500 VTB Kremlin Cup and after finishing as WTA No 8, qualified for the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen, where reached the semi-finals.
The short season in 2020 seriously disturbed the world’s sport and stopped the impetus of the Swiss tennis player. During the season, Belinda Bencic played at just a few tournaments, reaching the third round of the Australian Open and the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open.
However, the best is yet to come, as the 2021 season was the brightest in Belinda Bencic’s career. During the season, she won the Olympics gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which is her biggest achievement so far. Meanwhile, she also made great achievements at the WTA Tour, being the runner-up at the WTA 500 Adelaide International and WTA 500 Berlin Open, and reaching the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 Madrid Open, WTA 1000 Western & Southern Open, the US Open, and WTA 500 Chicago Fall Tennis Classic.
In 2022, Belinda Bencic won the title at the WTA 500 Credit One Charleston Open and was the runner-up at the WTA 500 Berlin Open. She also reached the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 Miami Open and WTA 250 Tallinn Open, as well as the quarter-finals of the WTA 500 Sydney Tennis Classic, WTA 500 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, WTA 250 Libema Open, WTA 250 Ladies Open Lausanne, and WTA 1000 Canadian Open (Rogers Cup). She finished the season as the world’s No 12.
In 2023, Belinda Bencic won the titles at the WTA 500 Adelaide International 2 and WTA 500 Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, but also was the runner-up at the WTA 500 Credit One Charleston Open and played in the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 Canadian Open (Rogers Cup). At the Grand Slam tournaments, she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as the third round of the Australian Open.
Belinda Bencic photos
