Olympic champion Belinda Bencic makes ‘miracle’ announcement
Belinda Bencic is set to join the WTA Tour’s expanding motherhood club as the reigning Olympic champion has confirmed she is pregnant with her first child.
The former world No 4 – who has not played tennis since September 12 when she lost in the first round of the San Diego Open – made the announcement on her Instagram account along with her boyfriend and the father-to-be Martin Hromkovic.
Bencic and former footballer Hromkovic started dating in November 2018 with the Slovak also doubling up as her fitness coach.
“Expecting our little miracle soon! ✨ We can’t wait to meet you,” the pair wrote on social media.
The 26-year-old Bencic didn’t reveal when the baby is due or if she plans to follow in the footsteps of fellow mothers Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Elina Svitolina – to name just a few – who all returned to competitive tennis after becoming first-time mothers.
Former world No 1s Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber also plan to return to action next year after giving birth in 2023.
Svitolina was one of the first to congratulate the Swiss star as the Ukrainian simply expressed her happiness with emojis as she wrote “” along with one of Bencic’s best friends on the WTA Tour, Donna Vekic who added “❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️”.
Ons Jabeur wrote “Congrats to both of you ❤️❤️❤️” while Paula Badosa added “Congrats❤️”
Bencic has enjoyed a frustrating season this year as she has struggled with form and injury, resulting in her slipping out of the top 10 in the WTA Rankings. The Swiss currently sits at No 14 in the rankings.
Despite the injury setbacks, Bencic still won two titles in 2023 as she lifted the Adelaide International trophy in January and the Abu Dhabi Open title in February.
It remains to be seen if she will defend her Olympic title at the 2024 Paris Games with the event scheduled to start on July 24.
Bencic defeated Marketa Vondrousova in three sets to win the singles gold at the Tokyo Summer Olympics while she also teamed up with Viktorija Golubic to win silver in the women’s doubles.
Bencic has won eight WTA Tour singles trophies- including WTA 1000 titles at the 2015 Canadian Open and 2019 Dubai Tennis Championships – while she finished runner-up at 10 tournaments. She also has two doubles titles to her name.
However, she is yet to crack it at Grand Slams with her best performance coming in 2019 when she made her one and only semi-final appearance at the US Open, losing in straight sets against eventual champion Bianca Andreescu.
