Ce n'était "que" le 19e match de Belinda Bencic depuis sa pause maternité de plus d'un an. Et la Suissesse est déjà qualifiée pour un huitième de finale de Grand Chelem en Australie. Ce vendredi, elle a tout de même profité d'une baisse physique importante de Naomi Osaka, blessée, pour rejoindre la deuxième semaine (7-6(3), ab.). En deux mois et demi, l'ex-numéro 4 mondiale a déjà montré qu'elle était prête à battre n'importe qui sur le circuit, et devra d'ailleurs le prouver au prochain tour face à Coco Gauff, en quête du titre. Sans avoir d'attentes spécifiques, Bencic avance et s'en réjouit.
Photo : @AustralianOpen
Photo : @AustralianOpen
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00:00Yeah, of course, not the way you want to win the match, that's for sure. I really felt
00:08for her. I've been injured before, so I know how it feels. Of course, I think I will be
00:13more happy maybe tomorrow. Yeah, it's cool to be in the fourth round.
00:19Questions in English?
00:20Courtney.
00:21Congrats on advancing, Belinda. You said throughout the last few weeks that you're way ahead of
00:28schedule in terms of just being able to compete again and even the level that you've been
00:34able to play. I'm curious, now with the round of 16, how do you stop yourself from getting
00:41ahead of yourself and thinking that it's all going to be like you're right back to where
00:46you were?
00:50To be honest, it's not really... Before, I would always have more expectations if I would
00:57have bigger results, but it's not the case here. I don't even have to remind myself.
01:03My body just tells me. If I see Bel, I just see her being only eight and a half months
01:09now.
01:11Really happy with how the comeback is going. I don't really feel like my expectations are
01:16coming back. I'm just really happy with every match I get to play. Obviously, on this level,
01:21it's very different. I feel like I can improve and get better. Obviously, it's tough to say,
01:28but it's not really about winning right now. It's really about improving myself and getting
01:32back there to be able to also play the biggest tournaments again and be up there ranking
01:38wise.
01:39Ben, then Catherine.
01:40Belinda, I just wanted to clarify on your camera message. Was that to your mom or to
01:46Naomi?
01:47What you wrote on the camera?
01:49Yeah, that was to Naomi.
01:51To Naomi, okay. Just double check.
01:54Catherine.
01:55Hi, Belinda. From the outside, it feels really normal already that you're back at close to
02:04your top level and competing with the best in the world, and yet you only had your daughter
02:10eight and a half months ago, I think you said. Does it feel normal to you? Has this all happened
02:16quickly, more quickly than you were expecting? Or did you feel ready when you came back to
02:23make that progress quickly?
02:25Yeah, I just took it very slow from the start. My comeback and I was obviously listening
02:33a lot to my body. It's such a big change, physically mostly, and then you start to play
02:39and obviously you realize, okay, your tennis is there. So I took time to play last season
02:48some smaller tournaments to get in the rhythm of playing and obviously mastering the logistics
02:54of traveling with Bella and everything.
02:56So I would say if we wouldn't have got into the United Cup as Team Switzerland, I would
03:03even consider maybe not playing here in Australia just yet because I just would think it's too
03:08early maybe, but I'm really happy that we came here. I felt like the United Cup and
03:14also in Adelaide, I kind of got to play matches, went through qualifying and that helped me
03:20a lot to just kind of get the matches in. I'm just really taking it match by match and
03:26being appreciative that I'm able to play against top players and kind of testing myself.
03:34Was there a moment when you started training for your comeback where you were like, phew,
03:39the game's still there?
03:41Yeah, I mean, obviously not right away, but after a few months of practicing, for sure
03:46you feel that, I mean, I've done this all my life. I'm playing since I'm three years
03:50old, so I feel like that's like riding a bike. Your tennis is going to be there, but obviously
03:55the physical part is the most difficult and it's definitely not 100% yet. I definitely
04:01feel like I can improve a lot on my movement, on my reaction and on different aspects of
04:08my physical performance.
04:11Hi Belinda, congrats. I wanted to ask about your decision to play the small tournaments.
04:17First of all, sometimes when players come back from paternity leave, they maybe want
04:21to start playing the big tournaments, but you chose to play ITFs and kind of build up.
04:28What was that like and why did you decide to do that?
04:33Well, for me, it's kind of logical. I think you cannot just be out for a year and a half,
04:42I think, and kind of expect that you can just jump in right where you're left off. I think
04:48there's definitely something to build up. Obviously, I think the most important for
04:53me was to see and test my body, to test also playing back-to-back matches and obviously
04:59try to play a little bit on the lower tournaments and also work my ranking back up. I don't
05:06really want to come here from a cold start and just take wild cards and maybe lose first
05:13round twice and then win a round. That's not going to help me to come back. It's going
05:18to help me if I can really build and win matches and play matches and play three set matches
05:23and kind of improve myself by playing.
05:30Was it at all kind of weird to be back at ITFs, which at some point in your career you
05:36probably thought you'd left behind, right?
05:38No. I mean, I've done it before. I kind of enjoy it. It's very low-key. There's no circus
05:46around anything. It's just nice. It's just the tennis court, you play a match and you
05:50go back to the hotel. It's cool.
05:54You had Stella on April 23rd. How quickly were you back training on court in the gym
05:59and how many hours did you do at the beginning and what did that look like?
06:03One day after birth, I go back to the court, I played eight hours. I'm kidding. It's really
06:09difficult to say because obviously you're not training. It's just like trying to move
06:15your body a little bit. Obviously after pregnancy, I was dying to just work out a little bit
06:20or go to the gym or just have a run. It was really nice and obviously you want to get
06:24back in shape in any form, even if you're not a professional player.
06:32So I would say maybe like two months after birth, I hit for the first time. It was like
06:38five minutes on the small court and then I would increase every day by just a little
06:43bit and just do a little bit of fitness and obviously do a lot of pelvic floor exercises,
06:50a lot of physio from the start and then I would increase depending on how my body would feel.
07:00Belinda, you'll face either Coco or Leila in the next round. I'm just curious if you
07:05have any thoughts about each of them as an opponent.
07:09Yeah, I mean I know both really well. I played Leila a couple of times. She's an uncomfortable
07:15player. She's lefty. She tries to take the ball early and then also Coco, obviously one
07:19of the best players in the world right now. I was able to watch her a little bit when
07:23I was just lying on the couch for the last nine months. Yeah, of course, very difficult
07:32opponents.
07:34At the beginning, you said that it's not about results at the moment. Is there something
07:39that needs to happen? Do you have something in your mind as to what needs to happen before
07:43it gets to everything being about results again, so to speak? When will that moment
07:48come?
07:49I mean as soon as I will feel that I'm 100% and then I'm like ready to go and obviously
07:54I think it's all about learning and improving and of course it's about winning. I mean that's
07:59why we're here but at this moment I just feel like I still call this a little bit as
08:05a test. I mean I came here to see how it's going to be. Obviously I didn't expect to
08:10be in the fourth round so I'm not going to change my expectations based on the result
08:15here.