FCI Staff Writer Sacramento 
fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com, femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com Mai-Groves-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editorial-use
December 14, 2023,
There is massive news in Belinda Bencic’s life and it doesn’t come from on the courts, but off.
The official WTA website posted, “The Hologic WTA Tour’s sorority of moms is about to grow by one. On Friday, World No.14 and Tokyo Olympic champion Belinda Bencic announced her pregnancy. Bencic, 26, revealed the happy news on an Instagram post.”
Best wishes to her on her family life.
That probably means we won’t see much of Belinda on the courts in the near future but she has certainly given us a lot of memories to share.
Belinda posted a 31-13 record in 2023 and won two WTA singles titles, namely Adelaide and Abu Dhabi.
Our Swiss luminary also reached the final in Charleston and the fourth round at three of the four Grand Slams. During a herculean struggle at Wimbledon, she held match points against then-No.1 Iga Swiatek but lost in three sets.
Belinda played her last tournament of 2023 in September in San Diego.
When she is ready, we expect her to make huge news on the courts again, so for right now, in case you missed it, we’re going to take you down memory lane.
Belinda is a Swiss professional tennis player with a career-high ranking of No. 4 by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) which she achieved in February of 2020.
Drum roll please.
Belinda has won eight career singles titles, including a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour.
By the time Belinda was 16, she was the No. 1 ranked junior in the world and won two junior Grand Slam singles titles at the French Open and Wimbledon.
On the professional tour, she made her top 100 debut shortly after turning 17. Her big breakthrough came at the 2014 US Open, where she became the youngest quarterfinalist since Martina Hingis in 1997.
Speaking of Martina, time for a Swiss Miss connection.
Born in Switzerland at a time when another Slovak-Swiss player Martina Hingis was one of the best tennis players in the world, Belinda began playing tennis at the age of two.
Her father arranged for her to train with Ms. Hingis’s mother and coach Melanie Molitor daily from the age of seven.
Talk about incredible memories, we loved watching Martina play during her reign. She had such a dynamic personality that sometimes took center stage in the news. A great sense of humor too.
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, Belinda sure picked a great example in Martina.
Belinda won her first two WTA Tour titles in 2015, including the Canadian Open where she defeated four of the top six players in the world. She then made her top-ten debut the following year while still 18 years old.
Then her challenges came. For most top female tennis players, don’t they always?
From 2016 through 2018, Belinda struggled with a variety of injury issues, most notably needing to have wrist surgery in 2017 that kept her out for five months and saw her drop outside the top 300 in the WTA rankings.
Nonetheless, she rebounded quickly and rose back into the top 50 within a year of her comeback.
She then posted her best season to date in 2019, winning her second Premier-5 title at the Dubai Championships reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open, qualifying for her first WTA Finals where she reached the semifinals, and finishing the year inside the top 10 for the first time, which helped her win the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award.
Now, that is the clippings of one tough player.
Let’s look at her playing style which has helped her reach great heights.
Belinda has an all-court game and demonstrates a very aggressive playing style. The long-term star possesses a powerful first serve, peaking at 113 mph, allowing her to serve aces and dictate play from the first stroke of a point.
Watching her matches, she possesses the ability to hit powerful groundstroke winners, but she can also hit lob and drop shot winners when presented with the opportunity. Sometimes, a devastating combination.
Finally, Belinda excels at hitting the ball early or on the rise, and is capable of turning defense into offense, excelling at redirecting cross-court shots down the line. She is also an accomplished champion on all surfaces, although she has stated that her favorite surface is grass.
In terms of finance, she is a champion there as well.
According to the WTA, her career prize money volleys in at $12,222,332.
Amazing.
That doesn’t count endorsements.
As you might guess, Belinda’s tremendous accomplishments and charisma have come to the attention of sponsors.
Belinda has been endorsed by Yonex for racquets since turning professional, and was endorsed by Adidas for clothing and footwear from 2011. In 2015, Bencic signed a ‘top-to-toe’ endorsement deal with Yonex, being supplied with clothing and footwear by the company, along with her racquets.
In 2023, Belinda switched to Asics for clothing and footwear. Bencic has used the Yonex EZONE 100 racquet throughout her professional career. In July 2022, Belinda became a brand ambassador and honorary Chief Inspiration Officer for the Swiss digital private bank, Alpian.
Alpian appears to offer a unique way of banking.
At alpian.com they educate, “The opportunity to combine everday banking with accessible investment and private banking services in a hassle-free mobile app. Modern technology allows us to offer personalised banking and investing at a dramatically lower cost than traditional private banking. Our financial advisors connect via video chat to meet with you.”
Very intriguing.
That was a nice journey around Belinda’s world.
We understand that family comes first and we wish her the best.
The sad news for us is that we probably won’t see much of her around those tennis courts any time soon, but we understand.
When she does return, get ready for some enthralling tennis.
It is the only way that a Martina Hingis protégé knows how to play.
~ ~ ~
OPENING PHOTO Mai-Groves-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editorial-use fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com, femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/3765125/bencic-announces-pregnancy-with-first-child
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belinda_Bencic
https://www.fciwomenswrestling2.com
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
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