Bencic’s Dubai victory is a great story for sports, says Federer
dubai — Swiss maestro Roger Federer was delighted with Belinda Bencic’s fairytale return to tournament-winning form in Dubai following her battles with serious wrist injury.
The 21-year-old Bencic, who reached a career high ranking of 7 in 2016, had already shown some of her old spark when she partnered the 20-time Grand Slam champion to help Switzerland win the Hopman Cup in Perth last month.
And Federer revealed the Swiss youngster received words of encouragement from him during the Dubai tournament in which she beat four top-10 players to win her first title in four years.
“I’m really happy for her, but I definitely didn’t expect it,” said Federer after his first round win over Philipp Kohlschreiber on Monday. “I still think, like she also thought, it was sort of work in progress, her whole comeback. But this is what sports does, they write great stories.”
Having saved six match points against eighth seed Aryna Sabalenka in the third round before fighting back from 5-3 down in the third set against sixth seed Elina Svitolina in the semis, Bencic impressed Federer with her never-say-die spirit.
“I thought the way she did it was tremendous, beating four top-10 players in exhilarating matches, to be honest. I think that was wonderful for her,” he said.
“I saw her briefly. It was déjà vu. Every day I saw her at the courts, every day I congratulated her, every day she went on to win the next one.
“And then the next day I saw her at lunch, and I quickly saw her after the finals before she left.
“She was so happy. It was a pleasure to see her play a little bit, and also happy that everything is coming together with her father and her fitness coach right now,” the seven-time Dubai champion said.