Belinda Bencic: "Enjoy the Moment"

Me: Do you consider yourself a role model?

Bencic: I mean not for me but maybe for someone else. I hope to be a rolde odel for sure for small kids, kids who want to play good tenis and maybe see me as their role model because I don't know they feel like my game is similar to theirs or I'm still quire young yet. I always felt when I was small and watching TV I always felt a little bit more close to the younger players like Vaidisova, Ivanovic, you know because Sharapova when she won Wimbledon at 17.

Me: So what would be one piece of advice you would give someone that is coming on to the Pro Tour? What would you say to them when you were their age?

Bencic: I would really say you have to enjoy it even in the later years of the career like on your first WTA tournament when you came because I remember I came to the first WTA tournament and I couldn't believe that I see all these players from TV and seeing them and playing against them and just being here. So, I would definitely say that to them and just to relax because they have so much time, their career is so long. Sometimes, I felt I was stressing because I thought everything needs to happen right away but it doesn't have to happen right away.

The last sentence really got to me. Patience is a virtue that needs to be learned, not taught. Belinda Bencic is in her young 20's but it seems like she has been around longer than that. Nowadays, players start their professional careers at such a young age in order to prepare them for the journey ahead. In Belinda's case, I feel that there is a lot of pressure on her to perform well since she has been around for such a long time.

The idea of putting pressure on yourself is useless. You, and only you, can put pressure on yourself to perform well. When you play freely and without any other worries, you will achieve the results you desire. That is the take away I saw from Belinda when she answered that question. Well she put too much pressure on herself, she didn't perform at the top of her game. Once she realized that she didn't need for "everything to happen at once", she can play the best tennis.