Belinda Bencic details new routine following birth of her first child, speaks on Grand Slam title goals

Former World No.4 Belinda Bencic has slowly began her ascent up the WTA rankings following the birth of her daughter, Bella, with the Swiss star already turning heads at the ongoing Indian Wells WTA 1000 tournament.

The 2021 Olympic gold medalist defeated 13th seed Diana Shnaider in the round of 32 encounter in the desert on Monday. Bencic looked like she hadn't missed a beat, and has made it clear she is here for the long haul following her return from maternity leave.

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The Swiss star became a mother less than a year ago, but appears ready to tackle the full 2025 season. Bencic is playing in her sixth tour-level event since her comeback, and the 28-year old has already won a title, in addition to shaving over 800 spots from her 2024 year-end ranking in the season’s first two months.

Prior to her match against Shnaider, Bencic sat down to discuss the changes and challenges of being a mother on tour. With Bella constantly following her on tour, she revealed she had yet to determine a fixed schedule on how to deal with parental life and being a professional tennis player.

"I think it’s tough to say, we don’t really have a routine yet," said Bencic. "Whenever she wants to sleep, she has her rhythm a little bit. Sleeping twice a day, and we kind of try to work around that. Also with practices, I try to practice early so I can have the whole day with her and spend time with her on my days off. I think she’s our little dictator, in terms of doing a routine we try to work around her, so it’s tough to say with babies the routine changes every two weeks, so we have to be very open and spontaneous and flexible."

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Furthermore, Bencic revealed she still had aspirations of winning her first Grand Slam title, despite only a handful of women doing so after they had become mothers.

"I would love to for sure, that’s my goal," she added. "I will try everything I can to do this, because this is why I started to play tennis. But it’s not more motivation just because I’m a mom, it’s just what I want to do all the time in my career. I just failed to do it until now but I will try everything I can."

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