Ahead of next weekend’s Fed Cup semi-finals, the Swiss team’s title aspirations received a big blow as its No. 1 player and World No. 10 Belinda Bencic was officially ruled out on Sunday due to an ongoing back problem. The Swiss are set to host the defending champions Czech Republic who will be without their two key players Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova at the Messe Luzern on 16-17 April.
According to an official release made the Swiss Tennis, the 19-year-old Bencic’s medical examination reports revealed she had a small scar of the tail bone which requires a minimum rest of four weeks and is thus expected to jeopardize her French Open preparations as well. Her father and coach, Ivan elaborated on the injury further: “The injury, a small scar of the periosteum at the coccyx is not serious, but needs some time to heal completely.”
In her absence, Miami semi-finalist and World No. 17 Timea Bacsinszky will be the No. 1 player and will have support from the 137th ranked Viktorija Golubic and doubles No. 1 Martina Hingis. Captain Heinz Günthardt has yet to decide whether a fourth player will be nominated as her replacement.
The 19-year-old played a major role in leading the Swiss Fed Cup team to the semi-finals in February as she snapped Angelique Kerber’s winning streak after her big Australian Open victory in an away tie in Germany. Bencic later went on to have a flawless 3 out of 3 record during the clash as she comfortably defeated Andrea Petkovic in singles before combining with Martina Hingis for the decisive doubles triumph.
The teenager last played at the Volvo Car Open in Charleston this past week where the back injury contributed to her 1-6, 1-6 loss to finalist Elena Vesnina in the second round.
