Belinda Bencic says she is out of her comfort zone with new coach Dmitry Tursunov after she reached the second week at the Australian Open.
The Olympic champion breezed into the second week after defeating Camila Giorgi 6-2 7-5.
Bencic hit 18 winners and 23 unforced errors compared to Giorgi’s 20 winners and 32 unforced errors as she broke on five occasions to claim victory.
The world number ten is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament having won Adelaide the week before.
A sign that new coach Dmitry Tursunov is working his magic and the Swiss says that is going outside of her comfort zone to make the partnership work, “I mean, he’s definitely very, like, tough coach, for sure,” Bencic said in her post-match press conference.
“He definitely, like, doesn’t talk about everything else and the point and just really tells you what you need to hear, and sometimes you really need to hear the uncomfortable stuff.
“I mean, that’s really what I’m looking for. I’m, you know, trying to improve everything, he just pushes me a lot, so it puts me out of my comfort zone, you know. So I don’t feel like, Oh, I’m playing so well in practice, everything is great.
“Like then I come to the match, and you know in the match you’re also out of your comfort zone. I mean, definitely I feel like I’m trying to do what he’s
telling me. It’s working so far, so I’m definitely trusting him a lot. I just feel like we have a great year in front of us.”
Bencic also told the press that she can see why Tursunov has great results with his players immediately.
Tursunov has achieved great success on the tour so far with Aryna Sabalenka and Anett Kontaveit but hasn’t won a Grand Slam as a coach so far.
The Swiss said things need time and spoke about the changes made so far, “I can definitely see why. I mean, it’s not a big change. It’s not like he just takes the magic something and just aims at you and you suddenly gonna play well,” Bencic explained.
“For sure I think it starts in the practice. It’s not, yeah, just like transfer into the matches right away. So of course you need a little bit of time. But it’s just really small changes in, like, your game, just to try to be a little bit tougher, try to be more disciplined.
“It’s actually a big difference. I said even to him, like, in a way I feel so stupid why I didn’t do that like these kind of things before. But I think it’s really lucky for me that I can get to work with him.
“I wish it would have happened sooner maybe now that I know, but I’m really happy that it’s happening now, and I’m gonna for sure work hard and try to do the best.”
Next for Bencic will be Aryna Sabalenka for a spot in the quarter-finals, with the Belarusian also winning in Adelaide before the Australian Open.
Bencic is hoping Tursunov will help with some of the tactics as Sabalenka prepares to face her former coach, “Of course Sabalenka is very aggressive player, has a lot of power,” Bencic said.
“Still, I think I played her two times maybe, so I remember that correctly. So yeah, for sure. And also, Dmitry was her coach before, so he can help me a lot, I hope.”
Bencic is indeed correct, they have played two times with them splitting the head-to-head although they haven’t played since 2019.
