Belinda Bencic Bio
Belinda Bencic is a Swiss professional tennis player born on 10 March 1997 in Flawil, Switzerland. She has achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4, accomplished on 17 February 2020. Bencic has secured ten career singles titles, highlighted by winning a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Renowned for her all-court game and aggressive style, she has drawn comparisons to former Swiss tennis legend Martina Hingis. Bencic continues to represent Switzerland in various tournaments and made a notable comeback to the WTA Tour after starting a family.
Early Life and Background
Bencic was born in Flawil in northeastern Switzerland to Dana and Ivan Benčič. Her parents were both born in Czechoslovakia, but her father’s family emigrated to Switzerland in 1968 to escape the Warsaw Pact invasion by the Soviet Union. Her father was a professional hockey player in the Swiss National League A and National League B before becoming an insurance broker. Her mother was a high-level handball player. Bencic hit her first tennis balls at the age of two and began training with her father, who was also a recreational tennis player, for one hour per day at the age of four. She entered her first national tournament at that age, losing to an opponent six years older in straight sets without winning a game. Bencic would regularly face much older opponents as a child and was encouraged by her father to try to win two games per set. When Bencic was five years old, her father contacted fellow Czechoslovak immigrant Melanie Molitor, the mother and coach of world No. 1 Swiss tennis player, Martina Hingis, for coaching advice. Hingis becoming the top player in the world around the time Bencic was born was also one reason her father was inspired to introduce her to the sport of tennis. Molitor agreed to gauge Bencic’s abilities, which led to Bencic working with Molitor once a week for about a year. At the age of six, Bencic also spent six months at Nick Bollettieri’s academy in Florida, winning several under-10 tournaments. Around this time, her father also asked Marcel Niederer, a childhood friend and fellow hockey player who had become an entrepreneur, if he could help sponsor his daughter’s career. Niederer agreed to invest in Bencic, which gave her father the ability to quit his job so he could spend more time traveling with and coaching his daughter while she competed at tournaments. In 2004, when Bencic was seven years old, her family moved to Wollerau, where Molitor had just opened up her own academy, so that she could train there every day. She continued to work with Molitor through her teenage years and has also occasionally worked with Hingis.
Path to Tennis
Bencic began competing on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2010 at the age of 13, reaching the final in her debut event at the lowest-level Grade 5 Luzern Junior Competition in Switzerland. In early 2012, Bencic won two high-level Grade 1 events at the Czech International Junior Indoor Championships and the Open International Junior de Beaulieu-sur-Mer in France, the first of which coming at 14 years old. She also made her junior Grand Slam debut, playing in all of the major tournaments except the Australian Open. Although she won just two matches in total in singles, she finished runner-up in doubles at both Wimbledon and the US Open. Bencic closed out the year by winning her first Grade A title at the Abierto Juvenil Mexicano, losing just 15 games in six matches. Bencic did not play again on the junior tour until May 2013, instead opting to focus on professional events. When she returned to the juniors, she won her first five tournaments of the year and extended her win streak in singles to 39 matches. All of her titles were Grade 1 or higher, including three Grade A titles at the Trofeo Bonfiglio and two Grand Slam events, the French Open and Wimbledon. Bencic became the first player to win the girls’ singles titles at the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Amélie Mauresmo in 1996. She was also the first Swiss girl to win a junior Grand Slam singles title since Martina Hingis in 1994. Bencic’s win streak was ended at the European Junior Championships by Barbora Krejčíková in the semifinals. With her success, Bencic became the world No. 1 junior in June and finished the season with the top ranking to earn the title of ITF Junior World Champion.
Belinda Bencic Career
Early Career (2012-2014)
Bencic entered her first professional tournament on the ITF Women’s Circuit in March 2011 in Fällanden, Switzerland, shortly after her 14th birthday. She reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier, recording her first ITF main-draw win over compatriot Tess Sugnaux. Bencic made her WTA Tour qualifying draw debut at the Luxembourg Open towards the end of the year in October, losing in three sets to Yulia Putintseva. She received a wildcard into the main draw at the following year’s event, where she lost her WTA Tour main-draw debut to Venus Williams. In 2013, Bencic progressed from $10k to $25k and $50k tier events. Her best results in the first half of the year were a singles semifinal at the $50k Indian Harbour Beach Pro Tennis Classic in the United States and a doubles title at the $25k event in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Bencic played in three WTA Tour main draws in the second half of the year. After losing at the Swedish Open in July, she won her first career WTA main draw match as a wild card at the Pan Pacific Open against Daria Gavrilova. She also won a match the following week at the Japan Women’s Open. In her last event of 2013, Bencic reached the semifinals of the $75k Dunlop World Challenge in Tokyo to break into the top 200 for the first time. She finished the year ranked at No. 184, a vast improvement from her ranking of No. 612 in January.
Breakthrough (2014-2015)
Despite beginning 2014 well outside of the top 100, Bencic only played in WTA Tour-level events throughout the year. She made her Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open, qualifying for the main draw. Bencic improved on her performance at each of her next two major events. After reaching the third round at Wimbledon, she made it to the quarterfinals at the US Open. During the tournament, she recorded the first two top-ten victories of her career over No. 7 Angelique Kerber and No. 10 Jelena Janković, to become the youngest quarterfinalist at the US Open since Hingis in 1997. Thanks to her success at the major tournaments, she rose to No. 33 in the world after the event. Bencic closed out the year by reaching her first WTA tournament final at the Tianjin Open, where she finished runner-up to Alison Riske. At the end of the season, she was named WTA Newcomer of the Year. Bencic struggled in the first half of 2015. Through the French Open at the end of May, she won multiple matches in the same event only twice. She began to turn her year around during the grass-court season. In the lead-up to Wimbledon, she made her second and third career WTA finals. Bencic then improved on her previous year’s result at Wimbledon by reaching the fourth round. At the Premier-level Canadian Open in August, Bencic produced her best performance of the year to win the title. With the title, Bencic became No. 12 in the world.
Notable Works and Milestones
Bencic’s signature work includes winning the Olympic Gold Medal in Singles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which solidified her status as one of the top players in the sport. She also won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award in 2019 after returning to the top 10 following injuries.
Belinda Bencic Award Nominations
Throughout her career, Belinda Bencic has received numerous nominations, including the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2014 and the WTA Comeback Player of the Year in 2019.
Belinda Bencic Awards Won
Belinda Bencic has won several prestigious awards, including the Olympic Gold Medal in Singles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the WTA Comeback Player of the Year in 2019.
Belinda Bencic Family
Belinda Bencic is married to Martin Hromkovič, a fitness trainer and former footballer. The couple welcomed their daughter, Bella, in April 2024. They reside in Wollerau, Switzerland.
Personal Life
Bencic has a younger brother named Brian, who is also a tennis player. She has both Swiss and Slovak citizenship. Bencic began dating Martin Hromkovič in 2018, and they married in St. Gallen in April 2024. She continues to keep her surname Bencic on the tennis circuit while adopting her married surname Hromkovicova in her private life.
