If Belinda Bencic's comeback season began by planting a seed, she is now harvesting a forest of success.
Starting the year ranked world No.487, Bencic kick-started her return to Grand Slam level with a fourth-round run at the Australian Open – an early sign of results to come.
In July, the Swiss star exceeded expectations at Wimbledon when she equalled her career-best Slam result with a run to the semifinals.
Now, as the top seed at this week’s WTA 250 event in Hong Kong, Bencic has notched her sixth tour-level quarterfinal of the year and is looking for her third title for 2025, after scoring her second in Tokyo last week.
Fellow WTA pro Jaimee Fourlis spotlighted Bencic’s remarkable year on this week’s episode of The Tennis, praising the consistency which has seen Bencic rewarded with one of the biggest ranking rises on tour.
“Belinda Bencic has had an incredible year since giving birth to her daughter, Bella,” Fourlis said, as the Swiss nears her 40th match win this season.
“It’s incredible the amount of tennis she has played this year and consistently beating top-20 players, top-10 players.”
Returning to the site of her Olympic gold medal run from 2021, Bencic defeated fellow top-20 talent Linda Noskova 6-2 6-3 in the recent Tokyo final.
That title placed her on the cusp of a return to the WTA top 10, a position in which she found herself consistently from 2019 until her break from tennis to start a family.
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The way Bencic has been able to rediscover some of her best tennis, so quickly, is truly remarkable – all while competing each month this year and steadily improving her ranking throughout.
With Bencic joined by Naomi Osaka and Elina Svitolina in the top 20, these WTA superstars are shattering the old narrative that athletes cannot return to their peak after having a child – an inspiration for every player regardless of the path they choose.
“There’s a list of so many women that have had babies throughout the year and have just done incredibly well and it creates a pathway for us women to be able to go have children and be able to come back on the tour and still do what we want to do,” Fourlis said.
“Just to be able to share that with her family; I know they travel with her full time, and kind of watching her daughter grow up, I think is really cool.”
Should Bencic reach the WTA top 10 before the Australian Open, it would put her in a position to attain a top-10 seed at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2021 Wimbledon.
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