Belinda Bencic is currently spending her quarantine with her Slovakian boyfriend and fitness trainer Martin Hromkovic.
The 23-year-old Swiss star enjoyed the best season of her career in 2019. At the US Open she beat defending champion Naomi Osaka for the third time last year and went on to reach the semifinals, where she lost to eventual champion Bianca Andreescu. Bencic won two WTA titles in Dubai and St. Petersburg and qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time in her career. In Dubai she defeated four top ten players Aryna Sabalenka, Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina and Petra Kvitova all in three sets to win her third WTA singles title and the second at Premier 5 level.
At the year-end tournament Bencic beat Petra Kvitova and Kiki Bertens to reach the semifinals. She lost to Elina Svitolina in the semifinal in her final match of the 2019 season.
Bencic lost to Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit in the third round at last January’s Australian Open.
Bencic said that the current break of the tennis season due to the coronavirus pandemic would be good for her body.
“I feel that the break is good for my body. All ailments are healed and I become more and more mobile without the strain of top sports. When I played again for the first time, the level was not great, but I got back in quickly. I am actually very relaxed, because there are no tournaments for a long time. I want to maintain my basic shape and get the muscles used to sport”, said Bencic.
“After Indian Wells, we actually wanted to stay in the USA for a long time and train there. Then we changed our mindi overnight. My parents returned to Switzerland and I flew to Slovakia with my boyfriend. I decided that I would go to Bratislava with Martin Hromkovic. Otherwise we would have been away from each other too long. He is also my fitness trainer. It is important that I work on my condition with him, especially now that there are no tournaments. If I didn’t do anything during the break, everything would hurt me later. We have been been allowed to play outside here for two or three weeks. I train one hour a day three or four days a week. Fortunately, the weather has been so good lately. We are not allowed to train indoors yet”.
Bencic dedicates her time to her new hobbies during the lockdown.
“I started cooking and baking intensively. I used to call my mother for every dish and ask how to do it. Now I can do it perfectly. I am really proud of it. I particularly like beef dishes with vegetables or salad and pasta. I prefer to bake. My parade dessert is brownies, strudel and Slovak pastries I have already made. Baking is very popular here.”
