Belinda Bencic

Belinda Bencic was raised to be Switzerland's next Hingis, and the pedigree wasn't an invented storyline — she was coached from age seven by Melanie Molitor, the mother and coach who built Martina Hingis, sharing the same Swiss-Slovak roots. Born in Flawil in 1997 to a family that fled Czechoslovakia, she turned pro in 2011, reached junior world No. 1, and swept the French Open and Wimbledon junior singles titles in 2013. She announced herself on tour at the 2014 US Open, where she became the youngest quarterfinalist since Hingis in 1997.

The game is built on early-ball aggression — she stands on top of the baseline, takes the ball on the rise, and redirects pace with the kind of clean timing that rewards flat, compact strokes rather than heavy topspin. At her best she turns defense into offense in a single swing; the trade-off is a serve and a margin-for-error profile that can wobble under pressure. On a fast hard court she's a problem for anyone, which is why her résumé reads strongest indoors and on the North American swing.

The defining peak came at the Tokyo Olympics, where she won singles gold and added a doubles silver — the centerpiece of a career that also includes a run to the 2019 US Open semifinals and a career-high ranking of No. 4. Across the tour she's traded sets with the full spread of the top order, from Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka to Coco Gauff, and her hard-court game has long made events like Indian Wells and the US Open her best stages.

The current beat is the comeback: back inside the top 11 after returning from maternity leave, Bencic has rebuilt her ranking the hard way and re-established herself as a seeded threat heading into the heart of the 2026 season.