Belinda Bencic has been handed one of the last wildcards for the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, which means the in-form Swiss is set to play in the desert for the first time since becoming a mother.
After welcoming her first child in April and kicking off her comeback in very late 2024, the former world No. 4 didn’t need much time to regain her rhythm and start doing well on the Tour.
This past month, Bencic put up quite a run at the WTA 500 tournament in Abu Dhabi to win it all – she also won the tournament in 2023 but didn’t play there last year due to pregnancy.
Now, the Swiss tennis star is also set to play in Indian Wells for the first time since 2023.
In the past, the current world No. 58 made eight appearances in the desert, with her best result being the semifinal showing she had in 2019.
While Bencic won’t enter Indian Wells among the top favorites for the title, she will definitely draw attention and be the one to watch, considering that she beat Elena Rybakina in Abu Dhabi and was also up by a set against Coco Gauff before losing in three sets their Australian Open round-of-16 meeting.
Bencic achieved a ‘mini-dream’ before the Indian Wells wildcard news
One of the early post-pregnancy goals for the Swiss was to win a title as a mom.
And after she was…
