From giving birth to her daughter to reaching Wimbledon SF after rising 450 ranking spots: Belinda Bencic's incredible story

Belinda Bencic of Switzerland beat seventh-seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia 7-6(3), 7-6(2) in the Wimbledon quarterfinals to book her place in the last four. This is her best ever showing at Wimbledon, and she will take on eighth seed Iga Swiatek of Poland in the semifinals on Thursday, July 10.

Bencic, who turned 28 in March, is the top-ranked female player in her country. She is ranked 35th in the world at the moment and will be dreaming about a maiden Grand Slam title.

Belinda Bencic came back into tennis from maternity leave

Born to a professional hockey player and a handball player, Belinda Bencic started playing tennis at the age of two. She continued to showcase her exemplary quality in youth tennis and made her WTA debut in 2012.

Since then, Bencic won nine titles on the Tour. She also reached a career-high of World No. 4 in February 2020, before winning an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 2021.

Bencic took a one-year-long hiatus from tennis from October 2023 to October 2024 for the birth of her daughter, Bella. She gave birth to her daughter on April 23, 2024. She came back to the tennis circuit six months later. However, she did not make a comeback to the WTA Tour directly. Rather, she played in ITF tournaments to build her momentum up after the long break.

Belinda Bencic's ranking had plummeted to 487th in the world owing to the long absence, but she managed to improve it gradually. Following her return to tennis, she won the Abu Dhabi Open title and then reached the quarterfinals of BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

The Swiss player's performance in the European clay swing was disappointing in general, but she has turned things around since. She also reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open.

So far, Bencic has dropped only two sets in five matches at Wimbledon and her scalps include two seeded players - Andreeva and Ekaterina Alexandrova. The match against Swiatek will be a tough one, though the Pole wasn't in the best of form going into the tournament either.

However, irrespective of the fate of their semifinal clash, Belinda Bencic has managed to win her battle already. The comeback journey to professional tennis after becoming a mother is a tough one in itself. The fact that the Swiss has made it to the last four at the All England Club is the icing on the cake. It now remains to be seen whether she can extend her fairy-tale run in the tournament and lift one of the most prestigious titles in tennis.