2016 Outlook:Belinda Bencic

The article series will feature today one of the most promising Rising Stars of the WTA,Belinda Bencic. The 18-year old has had an unbelievable year,reaching 4 WTA Finals and winning 2 WTA Premier Titles. Due to an injury that seems to be bothering her after Tokyo she pulled out of the WTA Elite Trophy to end her season. 2016 seems to be a really important year for the youngster who will "carry the burden" of her brilliant 2015 results.


2015:A Cinderella story

Belinda after beating Wozniacki in the Tokyo SFs

Belinda has been known as a promising player since the beginnings of 2014,however none would ever imagine that she would evolve that quickly considering our tennis era.Even though she hadnt the perfect start in 2015,neither had a good clay court season,losing in the 1st round of the Australian Open and in the 2nd of the French Open,she played really good tennis in the US series(both in summer and in March) and in the grass court season. Among her very good results are the Hertogenbosch Final,the R16 in Indian Wells,Miami and Wimbledon and the Tokyo Final. However, the most important moments of her season that really took the tennis world by storm were winning in Eastbourne and Toronto, both Premier tournaments(Premier 470 and Premier 5). After these triumphs she gained more fans, more self confidence and rose up the rankings very fast.

Belinda with her Eastbourne trophy

In Eastbourne she beat Genie Bouchard and Agnieszka Radwanska in a great final and we can pretty much say that it was the one little sample of what would come next in the land of Canada. After failing in the R16 of the Wimbledon Championships she played in Washington DC,where while as the 3rd seed she pretty much was a favourite.However,she lost to Anastasia Pavlychenkova. However,next week the miracle would happen.Belinda would beat 6(!!) former Grand Slam Finalists in a row to win her 2nd WTA Title,1st Premier Level 5. I remember when the SFs were to took place it was my name day and I would lose them,I didnt learn anything about them till the next morning. I woke up and I saw that Belinda had beaten Serena. I was like WOW! Quickly I tuned in youtube to watch the match. Serena was indeed mediocre,but to be honest she didn't play that match. Belinda from the other side however was the star!
Her steady baseline,constructive and clever game was in full sync and with many classy net points she was able to lead Serena to a 3 sets defeat which was in fact a lot more straightforward than the scoreline implies,as especially in the final set Belinda left Serena no space at all to lead 5-1 but she nearly choked to close it 5-4. This chokes were present all the week and wii be a topic to discuss in the 2016 preview.Then,she will go on to beat Halep 7-6 6-7 3-1(ret.) to become the 1st teenager to win the Rogers Cup in a lot of time(think since Ana Ivanovic back in 2006). In terms of her game,I can say it is really good,nearly perfect.Her shots can be aggressive,while we can say she is a really good athlete and has a great defensive play. Her game is really clever,proven after her victories over opponents with better athleticism like Caroline Wozniacki. In my opinion,her game is in a superior level in every domain of the sport of tennis,attack,defence,tactic! Surely, there is rome of improvement probably in the serve and the return but for her age her game is almost perfect. For mr,she is the definition of the all-around player.

2016:Α year question mark

Belinda with her Rogers Cup trophy

2016 should be an important year for the 18 year-old. Rising Stars tend to fail to live up to fans expectations after a good year just like Genie Bouchard in 2015. I believe that it would be a year that Belinda will get to meet the mental aspect of the game more. For me her game has very little imperfections but she needs to work a little in the psychological part. What I want to say is that Belinda won't be always the underdog. As soon as the next year starts she would be highly seeded at the first slam and it is evident that she will be a favourite to make at least the second week,so pressure starts accumulating. Even though she is young she needs to learn how to handle pressure early if she wants to be a champion like Maria and Serena in the future. This is a year to dedicate herself to her mental education. Some will probably say where is the problem with Belinda in this aspect and she is so mature etc. In the slams for example this year she had really tough matches in the US Open and Wimbledon before making the expected from her 3rd and 4rth round,for me there were resutls of pressure. Also,she has failed to be successful in smaller tournaments as well,for example in Prague and Washington DC, Moreover,in her Toronto run in many matches she choked leadings probably because she hadn't the courage to close it out the correct time,for example in the matches against Serena and Halep. Now, that she has even beat Serena she must understand that she can win any match if she believes in herself and to deal with the pressure,either the pressure of making the upset or the one of accomplishing the expected. Closing,I want to say that if you had asked me 2 weeks ago I would tell you that Belinda Bencic would be the 2016 Wimbledon champion but now I have changed my mind. I understand the needs of Belinda for mental education and that now is the right time in her career to do so. I expect from her to remain in the top 30 but not to do something really big as many would have thought after her 2015 year.