Aryna Sabalenka praises Belinda Bencic’s inspiring comeback: “It’s amazing, she deserved that”
WTA
Aryna Sabalenka was impressed by Belinda Bencic’s title at the Abu Dhabi Open, just months after becoming a mother. The former world No. 4 secured her first title of the year after playing only a handful of tournaments.
Bencic had been a prominent name on the Tour for years—not only as a former top-5 player but also as the gold medallist at the 2021 Olympic Games. There were doubts about whether she would regain her level after returning from maternity leave, but she has been inspiring with an 11-2 record at the start of the season.
At the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi, she faced tough opponents, including former Wimbledon champions Marketa Vondrousova (2023) and Elena Rybakina (2022). Additionally, a double bagel against Veronika Kudermetova was a strong statement that Bencic is serious about 2025.
Who better than current world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to assess Bencic’s impressive level after she reclaimed the title she had won in 2023 before becoming a mother? Sabalenka took note of Bencic’s performance and praised her colleague’s remarkable comeback.
"That's impressive, honestly," the three-time Grand Slam champion said. "She just came back, had a great run at the Australian Open [to the fourth round], and now she's holding the trophy. It's amazing, I'm super happy for her, she definitely deserved that."
"As she said, she worked really hard for that, and it's good to see. It gives us hope that probably, whenever we all decide to have babies, we’ll have a chance to come back if we want to," she added.
Bencic defeated the in-form 20-year-old Ashlyn Krueger in the final, showcasing her far greater experience in these situations. The Swiss player climbed more than 90 spots in the rankings after the title and is now set to be world No. 65 as of Monday. Just a month ago, she wasn’t even in the top 400.
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- Bencic is all business right now. If Rybakina is the ice queen, then Bencic is Antarctica—colder, sharper, and seemingly unstoppable. 🔥❄️MrAndreeva07-02-2025
- Creepy.
mandoist07-02-2025 - Ouch!!mandoist07-02-2025
- they need to change the rules on the WTA to limit wildcards more effectively like they have on the ATPSososo06-02-2025
- This is just getting beyond ridiculous!! Not to mention unsportsmanlike and unfair to serious up & coming contenders.mandoist06-02-2025
- No, writer, we were not "stunned". If you knew your business you would have been aware of her statement last weekend re: her knee and retirement. The main take-away here is that Simona went out on her own terms. She surely wanted to play again after WTA & ITIA screwed her out of her final productive seasons. Personally, I believed she was going to make this announcement when I saw the President and his family in their box seats. Good for Simone -- now she can move on to other things as she said she would.mandoist04-02-2025
- It sounds seriously absurd that in Davis Cup, (unlike Grand Slams such as the Aus Open), medical time outs off court with the medical staff are not allowed?? I mean, if this was an Aus Open match, and the same thing happened to Gurin then, he would have been able to go off court for official medical time out and make an informed decision whether to resume the match or retire. How come such conditions do not apply in Davis Cup?? I mean, there with Davis Cup, it is even more like a soccer match or basketball game in that teams are playing. And so as with those, it ought to be the case in tennis that if a player needs serious medical time out, then one of the other team mates ought to substitute and each team needs to have stand-ins or understudies in case substitution is needed which will be rare but as we can see here, this kind of circumstance fits. But even if the teams do not go down the road of subbing other team mates in, in case of a health issue like the one which played out here, at least, as in the Aus Open and other Grand Slams, there ought to be time-outs with the health professionals and at the conclusion of these time-outs, the particular decision that has been reached between them and the player needs to be taken on board by the umpire. PERIOD.
Sueiyin04-02-2025 - "If Novak did this, he would be defaulted for life. WTF." 🤣 WTF sounds like What Tennis Fury?! What Tennis Flurry??! I mean, se-rious-ly, it was actually the unfairness of the silly umpire's decision that is the issue here! Further, how come it was Gurin & his team who got disqualified? If this kind of thing happens in soccer, it would be the other guy getting the yellow or red card! Because after all, it was the Belgian who's foul it was so why then penalize the opponents for something they didn't instigate? Fouls in both basketball and soccer are read as a hinderance that has been caused by the player who INITIALLY instigated the hinderance. In this case, okay, it is tennis, but while the precise rules are different to either soccer or basketball, the same type of recognition as to whoever instigates a hinderance should apply, and in this case, it was the Belgian player.Sueiyin04-02-2025
- Medvedev talking to his form here. "Some actual deep problem." 🤣😂🤣MrAndreeva03-02-2025
- "Hopefully, the team around her will help... " Actually, the lack thereof seems to have been part of the problem(s). Another possibility is that, while dealing with legitimate surgeries, withdrawing, and otherwise passing on events, the competition has stepped-up in intensity while she was busy with traveling, photo shoots, and TV commercials.mandoist03-02-2025
