Belinda Bencic has confirmed that she will no longer be managed by Marcel Niederer after spending almost her entire career under his guidance.
Former Ice hockey player turned millionaire Niederer has been an instrumental force in Bencic’s career and reportedly invested around one million Swiss Francs ($820,000) in the development of her career according to rts.ch. Bencic managed to score the investment at a young age with the help of her father, who is a childhood friend of Niderer.
“I am no longer responsible for the management. It is a wish of the Bencic’s family, who will look after the management themselves,” he told Blick sports.
The removal of the 56-year-old will not be straightforward for Bencic and her family. Due to the amount of money placed on the Swiss player by the millionaire, he confirmed that negotiations is currently underway to be compensated for his removal.
“With this separation, the consequences of the contract for such a case come into force, according to which I will also be compensated for my former investments in the future.” he said.
Since reaching a high of seventh in the world earlier this year, Bencic has plummeted down the rankings after being hampered by issues with her thigh, back and wrist. Since her second round loss at the Wimbledon Championships, the 19-year-old has only managed to win three matches on the tour. Her latest defeat occurred at this week’s Moscow Open where she lost in the first round to eighth seed Daria Kasatkina.
Speaking about her lacklustre performance at last week’s Linz Open, where she lost to Dominika Cibulkova in the opening round, the Swiss teenager admitted that her mentality is in tatters after a difficult season.
“Every athlete has their ups and downs and this is a big down for me. It wasn’t easy for me because I had a lot of injuries and also mentally it is not easy to come back and start to play good. I’m pretty much done mentally with this year.” Said Bencic.
Bencic ends her season with a win-loss of 20-20 and will finish ranked outside the top 40 for the first time since 2013.
