"Sometimes you really need to hear the uncomfortable stuff": Bencic feeling effect of Tursunov coaching after reaching second week at Australian Open

Belinda Bencic credited her coach Dmitry Tursunov for tellin her the uncomfortable stuff that helped her book the second week of the Australian Open.

Bencic started working with Tursunov just days after he parted ways with Emma Raducanu. A respected coach who helped unlock a few players, Tursunov is currently overseeing a really strong stretch from Bencic. Her recent triumph in Adelaide saw her return to the top 10 after being there a few years ago and she's now pushing even further at the Australian Open.

Speaking about Tursunov, Bencic admitted he's tough:

“He’s definitely a very tough coach, for sure. He definitely doesn’t talk about everything else around the point and just really tells you what you need to hear, and sometimes you really need to hear the uncomfortable stuff."

Expanding further, Bencic said:

“That’s really what I’m looking for. I’m trying to improve everything but he just pushes me a lot, so it puts me out of my comfort zone. So I don’t feel like, oh, I’m playing so well in practice, everything is great. Like then I come to the match, and you know in the match you’re also out of your comfort zone, so definitely I’m trying to do what he’s telling me. It’s working so far, so I’m definitely trusting him a lot. I just feel like we have a great year in front of us.”

While great at what he do, Bencic did confirm that he doesn't not have magical powers:

“I mean, it’s not a big change. It’s not like he just takes the magic something and just aims at you and you suddenly gonna play well. You have to be kind of ready to do what he’s demanding of you every time in every practice. For sure I think it starts in the practice. It doesn’t just transfer into the matches right away. So of course you need a little bit of time. But it’s just really small changes in your game, just to try to be a little bit tougher, try to be more disciplined. It’s actually a big difference. I said even to him, like, in a way I feel so stupid why I didn’t do that like these kind of things before."