“Felt Like He Was There” – Belinda Bencic Reveals Roger Federer’s Kind Words Upon Winning Gold Medal at Tokyo Olympics 2021

Belinda Bencic and Roger Federer are part of an elusive list of Swiss players to win a gold medal at the Olympics. While Federer won it with Stanislas Wawrinka in the men’s doubles category in Beijing, Bencic did it alone in the women’s singles category at the Tokyo Olympics.

With less than two weeks for the US Open, the World No. 11 takes part in the Cincinnati Open beginning this week. During a press conference today, the 24-year-old spoke about the messages she received after clinching gold in Tokyo. Among those messages, she marked Federer’s as one of the most special.

Belinda Bencic mentions Roger Federer during press conference at the Cincinnati Open

Bencic and Federer teamed up to compete in the Hopman Cup from 2017 to 2019. During that period, the pair secured consecutive titles by defeating the German pair of Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber in 2018 and 2019.

Earlier today, the 24-year-old took questions ahead of the Cincinnati Open. During the press conference, she was asked which congratulatory message meant the most to her after Tokyo. Along with her family, she admitted Federer’s message made her happy. She said, “I think just family and friends have been really important. I feel like I’ve called really the most important ones right away after the match.

“I was super happy of course about Roger’s messages, his kind of happiness about my success. It was really sweet from him. It felt really like he was there, as well. Obviously, of course, all the family, my former coach I called, thanked her.”

READ MORE: The True Gentleman Of Tennis – Top Sportsmanship Moments Of Roger Federer

Bencic: Still have some unanswered messages

Despite the tournament ending over two weeks ago, Bencic admitted some messages remained unanswered. While making the admission, she also admitted she didn’t want to be on the phone throughout the day.

“I mean, it was like tons of messages I got from everyone,” said the 24-year-old. “I feel like I have many people very close to me. For sure I feel like when I was, like, calling or texting them after, for sure I have to find the most important ones.

“I still really have some unanswered messages. Hope everyone, of course, understands. I didn’t want to be on my phone all day long answering messages.”

Bencic now shifts her focus towards the Cincinnati Open. She will face Marketa Vondrousova in her opening match of the tournament later today. This will be a rematch of the Tokyo Olympics final, where Bencic defeated Vondrousova to make history.

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