Get to know the youngest player left in the U.S. Open, 17-year-old Bencic

At this time last year Belinda Bencic was the No. 1 ranked junior playing in the U.S. Open junior tournament, aiming to become the first girl since 1990 to win

Courtney Nguyen | Aug 30, 2014

Get to know the youngest player left in the U.S. Open, 17-year-old Bencic /

At this time last year Belinda Bencic was the No. 1 ranked junior playing in the U.S. Open junior tournament, aiming to become the first girl since 1990 to win three junior Slams in one year. A year on and Bencic earned direct entry in to the main tournament and the 17-year-old Swiss prodigy is into the fourth round of a Slam for the first time after stunning sixth seed Angelique Kerber in the third round. Bencic, who was coached from childhood by Martina Hingis' mother, Melanie Molitor, has soared up the rankings in her first year on the WTA tour. She began the season ranked No. 212 and is up to a career-high No. 58, the youngest player in the top 100. Earlier this season she made her first Premier-level semifinal at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. Bencic is the real deal and young name we'll be seeing often in the second week of Slams. But who knew it would be so soon?

SI.com caught up with Bencic recently to talk about her first year on the pro tour, growing up Swiss, and, before we were so rudely interrupted by Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka, selfies with Roger Federer.

SI.com: So when was the first time you realized you could make a living playing tennis?

Bencic: I don't know, because in the beginning I wasn't that good [laughing]. I was losing the first matches I played. But I started getting into it and started winning and it made it more fun, and I started to play more tournaments. So there wasn't a day. It was gradual.

SI.com: Is there a match that stands out to you as the one that made you believe you could be a professional?

Bencic: I just remember my first match. I lost 6-0, 6-0.

SI.com: When was that?

Bencic: I was four and my opponent was 10. It was a national tournament.

SI.com: Do you remember how you reacted after losing? Were you sad? Angry?

Fashion hits and misses at the U.S. Open

MISS: Camila Giorgi, U.S. Open

The doliy threw us off.

HIT: Gael Monfils

Asics checks the crazy patterns at the door and sticks to simple neons. Win.

HIT: Eugenie Bouchard, U.S. Open

Bouchard's little blue Nike dress was simple yet distinctive.

HIT: Simone Bolleli/Taro Daniel

'MERICA!

MISS: Andrea Petkovic, Maria Kirilenko, Flavia Pennetta

Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images; Don Emmerg/AFP/Getty Images; Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Why do you insist on ruffles, Stella McCartney? Why?

HIT: Ana Ivanovic, U.S. Open

Ivanovic's Adidas little black dress was perfect.

MISS: Maria Sharapova

maria fashion.jpg — Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

The hemline is too short and the dress is otherwise...blah.

HIT: Sam Querrey

That classic green is so "tennis". Good to see it back.

MISS: Radek Stepanek

Always pushing the sartorial envelope, the back of Stepanek's shirt is an unforced error.

HIT: Venus Williams, U.S. Open

Bilgin Sasmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

This wispy blue dress was another ace for Venus' EleVen line.

HIT: Stan Wawrinka

This is the shirt you wear when you want to tell a New York crowd to shut up.

MISS: Serena Williams

Nike needs to stop trying to make blazers a thing. As for the rest? No.

HIT: Maria Sharapova, U.S. Open

We weren't fans of her night dress, but Sharapova's Nike day kit had a chic modern cut.

HIT: Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios

Nike's neon splatter print complemented these two wild youngsters.

MISS: Jelena Jankovic

Jankovic's baggy honeycomb dress from Fila at the U.S. Open.

HIT: Roger Federer, U.S. Open

With Michael Jordan there to see them in action, Federer's NikeCourt Zoom Vapor AJ3 at 2014 were the coolest tennis kicks of the year.

HIT: Victoria Azarenka

The top is business casual, but we love the shorts.

MISS: Donna Vekic

That's a cruel thing to do to an 18-year-old, Nike.

MISS: Caroline Wozniacki, U.S. Open

wozniacki fashion.jpg — Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Although she had a good run, Wozniacki wore more unnecessary ruffles.

HIT: Novak Djokovic

He's in white and grey during the day, but the night kit is bold and sharp.

MISS: John Isner

I thought they were birds at first. Turns out they're "Ls" for Lacoste.

HIT: Sloane Stephens

It's a shame she couldn't stick around. The clean-cut dress was great under the sun.

HIT: Simona Halep

Leave it to Halep to make an all-pink outfit look jockish.

MISS: Grigor Dimitrov

It looks like he's wearing tiny polkadots.

HIT: CiCi Bellis

Not too many missteps for this kid this week.

HIT: Roger Federer, U.S. Open

Darth Federer, version 2.0 at the U.S. Open.

MISS: Ivan Dodig

Is that a ... tiger?

HIT: Tomas Berdych

We're grading on a curve here. Given H&M's recent debacles, we give this a pass.

Bencic: My dad always told me that when I play older opponents, which I always did, that if I won just two games in each set then I already won in my mind. So sometimes I would come to the net and say "I won!" And the girl would say "No, you didn't."

SI.com: You're still young. Do you still have that mindset?

Bencic: No. Now I try to win six games each set [laughs].

SI.com: You're now a staple in the WTA locker room. Do you remember the first time you were walking around in there and were starstruck?

Bencic: Yeah, it was the first time I was in a WTA tournament in Luxembourg. So when I saw Maria Kirilenko and Venus Williams, I was like "Wow. I just saw them on the TV and now I'm here."

SI.com: Do you hang out with anyone in the locker room?

Mailbag: Did Venus Williams' doubles match affect her singles play?

Bencic: Yes. Stefanie Voegele, Monica Puig, Jana Cepelova and also the younger players. Dominika Cibulkova and I talk. You know, just the Czech and Slovak clique.

SI.com: Who's your favorite musician?

Bencic: I like Rihanna, Calvin Harris, and Katy Perry.

SI.com: Do you listen to music when you go on court?

Bencic: No, no I can't do that. I listen to music the morning before or the evening before. But when I go on the court I don't because then I always have the music in my head. It's like the tiebreak and I'm like [starts dancing].

SI.com: What do you do to keep your mind off tennis?

Bencic: Normal things. When I'm not on the tour I'm meeting with friends, going out, going to the movies, reading books. I like reading. Music. Of course the internet.

SI.com: You say you like reading. What's your favorite book?

Bencic: I like crime books.

SI.com: Do you read in German, French or English?

Bencic: I read in German and English sometimes. I read Rafa's book and Andre Agassi's books in English.

Tweets of the Week: U.S. Open Edition with MJ, CiCi and Ivanovic's ice cream

SI.com: Oh wow. You're like a tennis nerd?

Bencic: Of course!

SI.com: Do you watch tennis?

Bencic: Yes. Whoever is in the TV I watch.

SI.com: Who are your favorite players to watch?

Bencic: Of course, Roger, Stan...

SI.com: You have to say that. You're Swiss. When we were walking in here I saw him give you a fist-bump. Do you know each other well?

Bencic: Yeah, we met the first time at the U.S. Open last year and we see each other at tournaments as well. He's very nice.

SI.com: Have you met Roger as well?

Bencic: Yes, this year at the Australian Open. I met him the first time. So it was just like "Hello, how are you."

SI.com: Did you walk up to him or did he walk up to you?

Bencic: I know his coach so he introduced me to him.

[Interrupted by Stan Wawrinka as he was doing his pre-tournament media tour]

Gael Monfils hits insane jumping forehand shot at the U.S. Open

Wawrinka: She's a bigger celebrity than me.

SI.com: She's very popular.

Wawrinka: Of course. She should be.

SI.com: She's going to do more media than you.

Wawrinka: She should come do my media for me.

Bencic: No, no, no [laughing].

SI.com: Anyway, do you have a favorite movie?

Bencic: The Hangover. I like comedy movies more.

SI.com: So you like upbeat music, comedy movies, but...crime novels?

Bencic: I like when it's interesting, the book, when cannot stop reading it.

SI.com: So you read off a Kindle or your iPad?

U.S. Open Daily Data Visualization

Bencic: Oh no. Regular books. I carry the books with me.

SI.com: When you wake up in the morning what's the first internet site you go to?

Bencic: Probably ITFTennis.com or WTATennis.com

SI.com: See? You are a tennis nerd. What would surprise people about Switzerland that we don't know? When I think of Switzerland I think of banks, chocolate, fondue...

Bencic: People always thinks it's always cold there, that we live in the mountains in the chalets. But we have also normal cities. And it's quite hot in the summer. Yeah not in the mountains all the time.

SI.com: You don't yodel?

Bencic: No. Like people will ask us how we can handle the heat on the tennis tour. We're like, we travel all the year. We're not in the snow all the time.

SI.com: Last question: If you could take a selfie with anyone who would it be?

Bencic: [Thinks a long time.] Maybe with Roger or Stan?

SI.com: I'm pretty sure you could get yourself a selfie with Roger and Stan.

Bencic: Um...maybe with Rafa?

SI.com: You're one of them now! I'm sure you could get a selfie with Rafa. Just walk up to him and ask for one.

Bencic: Oh, no. I don't think so.

Published Aug 30, 2014

COURTNEY NGUYEN

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.