Billie Jean King Congratulates Tokyo Olympics Gold Medalist Belinda Bencic on Receiving Switzerland’s Top Sporting Honor

Despite mixed results at Grand Slams this year, Swiss tennis player Belinda Bencic managed to shine at the Tokyo Olympics as she won the gold in singles and a silver medal in doubles division.

This was a unique feat for the Swiss player as she made her country proud with this achievement. Also, Bencic played the Billie Jean King Cup with utmost dedication and took her team to the finals. In the final, team Swiss lost to a dominant team Russia.

Belinda Bencic receives the Swiss sportswoman of the year award

However, for her on-court skill at the team event, Bencic was given the ‘Heart’ award. Since 2009, the Heart award has been given to players who have stood by their team and competed with conviction.

Along with the heart award, Bencic was also conferred the Swiss sportswoman of the year for the first time in her career.

Congratulating Belinda on these dual achievements, legendary tennis player Billie Jean King wrote an appreciation tweet.

“She’s not only the 2021 recipient of the BJKCup Finals Heart Award, but she’s also the Swiss Sportswoman of the Year. Congratulation on a terrific 2021, @BelindaBencic!”. 

Bencic’s 2021 WTA season was a roller-coaster ride

It has been a roller-coaster of a year for the Swiss tennis player on the WTA tour. After a solid start to the year where she reached the finals at Adelaide International, Bencic lost in the Australian Open third-round to Elise Mertens.

Since then, it has been a downhill ride for the Swiss as she showed some promise on the European clay-court season. Bencic reached the singles quarter-finals in Madrid and also made it to the final four in doubles alongside Jil Teichmann. It was her best performance on the red-dirt this year.

Coming to the grass-court season, Bencic reached the finals at Berlin after defeating the likes of Petra Martic, Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Alize Cornet. In the final, the Swiss lost in a three-set contest to Ludmilla Samsonova.

At the US hard-court summer, the Swiss player reached the last eight at Cincinnati and also at the US Open. She was outlasted by Jil Teichmann and Emma Raducanu respectively.

Since the final Grand Slam in New York, Bencic continued to play till the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic tournament in October and made it to the quarter-finals. During the 2022 WTA season, Belinda Bencic will be looking to figure out a way to get past the last eight stage and pick up titles consistently.

Also read: SWISS STAR! Belinda Bencic Bestowed With Special Award on Exceptional Performances for Switzerland