Bencic at ease with leading Swiss role in Tokyo
She may have assumed a leading role for Switzerland at Tokyo 2020, but Belinda Bencic insists she doesn’t feel any extra pressure to secure her nation’s fifth Olympic medal in tennis.
With past Swiss medallists Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and retired duo Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky all absent from the Games, the world No. 11 made good on her status as her nation's headliner at Tokyo 2020 with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Japan’s Misaki Doi on Monday. French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova awaits in the third round.
Bencic, who is fighting for a medal on two fronts after progressing to the second round of the doubles alongside Viktorija Golubic, is the only Swiss player still in contention for a singles medal this week after Golubic was stopped in her tracks by Naomi Osaka.
Switzerland have a fine recent history of leaving the Olympics with a tennis medal in tow. Federer claimed doubles gold with Wawrinka at Beijing 2008 and took singles silver in London four years later, while Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis returned from Rio 2016 with a doubles silver medal.
So has Bencic encountered any weight of expectation at these Games?
“I definitely don’t feel it,” she said. “I think in a country like we have with Switzerland, I think the people are expecting very much. They are very, how do you say in nice words… spoiled to have good results.
“I’m just really grateful that I can be one of them. I never imagined that I could be in this era of Swiss tennis. I’m very happy I can actually be here. I’m not taking it as a pressure, but as a privilege.”
The 24-year-old could have hardly made a better start in her debut Games.
Singles victories over Jessica Pegula and Misaki Doi sandwiched a first-round doubles triumph over Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara, and though a testing encounter with Czech Republic's Krejcikova lies in wait, Bencic is delighted with her stay in Tokyo so far.
“It’s going great,” she said. “I think it’s just showing how excited I am to be here. It’s really something new and I was really excited before, but now even more that I’m here it definitely matched my expectations even more.
“I love to be in the [Olympic] Village. It’s just something new, something exciting. I feel like I’m on a high a little bit.”
Hingis and Bacsinszky have both since retired from the sport following their triumphant showing at Rio 2016, but with Federer and Wawrinka forced out of these Games through knee and back injuries respectively, both have taken a keen interest in the fortunes of the Swiss team in Tokyo.
“For sure, they’re both following everything. Especially Roger,” said Bencic. “I know he’s following from Futures to Challengers to Olympics to everything… He definitely knows what’s going on and how we play. He messaged us after the doubles yesterday, so I’m sure he’s watching.”