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It was a performance to quickly forget. An event that shocked both Belinda Bencic (26) and her observers. With the 3:6, 3:6 in the US Open round of 16 against the Romanian Sorana Cirstea (33), the East Swiss woman was even well served. She summarized afterwards in a TV interview with SRF that she did not feel like she had played a ball into the field. Bencic tried to use diplomatic words, but things seemed to be boiling inside her. She has often emphasized that she is her own worst critic. This time, however, she was not spared from the criticism of the experts: “I really don’t know how you can play so bad when you are as talented as they are,” said BBC commentator David Law (50) in “The Tennis Podcast”, format heard millions of times in which he acts as co-host. Ultimately, both Bencic and her critics came to a common denominator: this year’s US Open was another missed opportunity.
Because Bencic could well be one of the two players who fought for victory in New York last night. In fact, she would have everything to make her biggest dream, a Grand Slam title, come true. “The question is not actually if, but when she will do it,” says SonntagsBlick tennis expert Heinz Günthardt (64). Of course, the Olympic victory in Tokyo in 2021 is a huge success on her record. But in the tennis world, which works differently, he cannot cope with the irrepressible desire for triumph at Grand Slam level.
It is extremely rare for Bencic to complain about a complete failure in her game. The match against Cirstea is an exception in that respect, and yet it has something in common with all previous performances at the Australian or French Open, in Wimbledon or New York: Bencic was never able to get into position. In 2019 she failed in the semifinals of the US Open, in 2014 and 2021 she was in the same place in the quarterfinals. These are her three best results at the highest tournament level.
“She hardly makes any compromises”
“Sometimes you just have to survive certain matches,” says Alessandro Greco (42), head of top sport at Swiss Tennis: “There is so much happening in these two weeks that the most important thing is that you can somehow get through all the low points. You have to be bad at winning games sometimes.” BBC commentator Law made the same point: “I spoke to Coco Vandeweghe (31, former world number 9, editor’s note) and she said: every now and then you see that Bencic is having a bad day, because in her the game hardly makes any compromises. It’s just their thing to get the ball early.”
So doesn’t Bencic have a plan B? “No,” says Günthardt, who won the Billie Jean King Cup last year as captain of the right-handed Swiss women’s team. Bencic has shown countless times that she has a ‘sensational fighting spirit’ and can fight her way back in matches. For example, during her tournament victory in Abu Dhabi in February. Bencic turned the match against Ljudmila Samsonowa (24) in her favor after losing a set and match point for the Russian (1:6, 7:6, 6:4).
But at Grand Slam level? It seems she wants victory so badly that sometimes – just like against Cirstea – her instincts seem to fail. Against the Romanian, Bencic reacted, it seemed from the outside, in panic and with an even faster game, instead of taking a step back and collecting himself. And that failed miserably. Her body language spoke volumes.
Günthardt unfolds a metaphor from racing: “Let’s assume that a driver keeps setting new best times on a dry track. But then it starts to rain. What now? It must adapt to the circumstances. Use the brake and accelerator pedals carefully. Feeling is required. If she thinks she has normally taken this turn at full throttle, and continues to do so in wet conditions, she will skid and fly off the track. Or in Belinda’s case: the US Open.”
Adjust like Djokovic?
Günthardt emphasizes: “We are talking about the highest level of world tennis here. Belinda has been part of the top twenty for years, it is the details that decide.” But it is precisely those nuances that distinguish Grand Slam winners from the rest. What is striking: Novak Djokovic (36) is a classic adaptor when he notices that his game is not working. What does he do? He accepts that the game is going to last four hours, he stands two to three meters back and slowly works his way back into the duel. Usually with success, either because the opponent suddenly makes mistakes, either because he himself becomes stronger again.
How does Bencic do that in the majors? How does she overcome the pressure and uncertainty when things get serious four times a year? “It has a lot to do with self-confidence. She has to be able to convey that her opponent has to have a damn good day to beat her. “She regularly shows on tour that she can do this,” says Günthardt.
One thing is clear: Bencic is now 26 and is under increasing time pressure every year. Last season, when she never got past the third round of the Grand Slams, “it stressed her out,” she said early this year in Melbourne: “I thought to myself, hey, I don’t have time to be eliminated in the early rounds.” This year, despite periodic disruptive factors such as injuries or the unfortunate divorce from coach Dmitri Tursunow, they reached the round of 16 three times. Only at the French Open did they drop out in the first round after thigh problems and without preparation.
When asked what it will take to make her dream come true, she said after her New York outing: “I just have to win this round of 16.” Sounds easy. But Greco agrees: “Once she gets moving, she’s an express train that’s hard to stop.”
What does Liptak get out of her?
Considering how big the list is of players who have managed to get their hands on a major trophy out of nowhere in recent years – and considering Bencic’s excellent playing skills – it seems like a bad joke that the current world number 15 is still empty. Bitter: In 6 of her last 15 Grand Slam appearances, a previously lower-ranked player won.
Bencic left New York frustrated, but perhaps she also gained a lot of insight. However, it remains to be seen how much her new trainer Matej Liptak (45) can push her out of her comfort zone.
In her emotions, Bencic said that she had already had a million chances and that she would continue to have a million more chances in the future. It remains to be hoped that this is the case. Otherwise, the careers of other late bloomers are encouraging: German Angelique Kerber (35) won her first of three Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open in 2016 at the age of 28. And the Italian Flavia Pennetta (41) triumphed at the US Open in 2015 as a 33-year-old.
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
