Belinda Bencic hopes her generation can emulate Roger Federer & Stan Wawrinka, says she is "positive" Federer will return soon
In the absence of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, Swiss tennis has found a new flagbearer, both literally and figuratively, in the form of Belinda Bencic. And Bencic recently expressed hope that the quartet of herself, Jil Teichmann, Viktorija Golubic and Stefanie Voegele can one day emulate Federer and Wawrinka.
Bencic not only carried the flag for her nation at the Tokyo Olympics last month, but also won the gold medal in women's singles to etch her name in the history books. To put her feat into context, neither Federer nor Wawrinka has a gold medal in singles. They do have a doubles gold though, which they won at the Beijing Olympics.
With Federer and Wawrinka both on the decline and seemingly on the last lap of their career, many believe the onus is now on Bencic to spearhead Swiss tennis. And during her post-match press conference after she beat Arantxa Rus in the first round of the US Open, the Olympic champion was asked if she feels the pressure that comes with those expectations.
Bencic responded in the negative and pointed out that her female compatriots are also making their presence felt on tour, even at the ongoing US Open.
"I don't think so (if she feels pressure)," Bencic said. "I feel like we have, I mean, we have four Swiss women now in the main draw, so I think that's great."
The 24-year-old stressed that she is not hogging all the limelight, but added that she was proud to carry her nation's flag in the absence of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka at the Tokyo Olympics.
"I don't feel like I'm the only one that their eyes are on me," Bencic said. "For sure I'm very happy and like proud to be kind of holding the Swiss flag up on the tournaments that Roger (Federer) and Stan (Wawrinka) cannot play."
Bencic further mentioned how pressure is a "privilege" for her, given that she hails from a country with a rich tennis heritage.
"But for me, it's not a pressure at all, because to even kind of have this chance in Switzerland, because Switzerland is a very country that has great players, so a little bit spoiled maybe in this," she added. "But I don't see this as pressure. I see it for sure as a privilege."
Belinda Bencic then reiterated that she is not the only one carrying Swiss tennis forward. Bencic expressed her desire to see herself, Golubic, Teichmann and Voegele to one day come close to the achievements of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.
"I definitely feel like I'm not the only one, and I hope we can, like, establish all of us, me, Jil Teichmann, Vickie Golubic, and Stefanie Vogele like as a kind of, yeah, all of us to be maybe like Stan and Roger (smiling)," Bencic said.
I hope Roger Federer will play Rafael Nadal again: Belinda Bencic
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have played each other 40 times on tour so far but have never faced off at the US Open, despite having nine Slams combined on American soil.
Given how Federer is on his last legs, it is unlikely he will play another US Open. That means American fans might never get to witness the Swiss taking on Nadal at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Belinda Bencic was asked if she felt disappointed that Federer and Nadal could end their careers without ever having played each other at the US Open. She answered in the affirmative, but cautioned that only Federer himself could give an appropriate response to the question.
"Oh, yeah, I mean, of course I hope he will play Nadal again and he will play again," Bencic said. "But I'm sure, but I cannot answer this question, because I don't really know -- you have to ask him for that."
Bencic further stated that she hopes to see Federer back in action soon, before claiming she is "very positive" that he will return to tennis.
"But for me personally, I definitely hope that he will be back soon," Bencic said. "I'm very positive about it, for sure, because he loves tennis so much. Hopefully we can see him again."