Belinda Bencic is on the road to making her long-awaited tennis return, and she teased her comeback in a recent video she shared on social media.
Bencic has not played on the WTA Tour since being beaten in the first round by Aliaksandra Sasnovich at the 2023 San Diego Open in September. She announced her pregnancy news in early November when the regular tennis season ended.
Although Bencic was nominated for Switzerland's Billie Jean King Cup squad in last year's Finals, she did not compete. The 27-year-old went on maternity leave and has not been anywhere near a tennis court in 2024 until recently.
After giving birth to her first child in late April, Bencic returned to the practice courts this week accompanied by her baby daughter, Bella, who was in a stroller courtside. She shared a sneak peek into her session on Instagram, which can be seen in the video below.
In the background, her mother was busy putting in a shift. Bencic has not confirmed her return date, but the fact that she was practicing on a hard court suggests she might be gearing up for a return on the North American hard-court swing in late July.
It doesn't look like she will defend her gold medal at the Paris Olympics since the tournament will be contested on clay courts at Stade Roland Garros. The Swiss had a great campaign in 2023, establishing herself as a Top 20 mainstay and winning two titles in Adelaide and Abu Dhabi.
She recorded 31 wins from 44 matches and reached the second week in three of the four Grand Slams she played in. Bencic will likely exit the Top 100 in the coming weeks because of long absence, but the 27-year-old will use a special ranking to enter into the main draw of WTA events upon her return.
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