US OPEN

August 31, 2021

Belinda Bencic

Press Conference

B. BENCIC/A. Rus

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Could you just give us an idea of your thoughts on the match and your level of play going into round 2.

BELINDA BENCIC: Yeah, I was very happy with the way I played. I felt very comfortable on the court. I felt like my serve was helping me a lot.

In the last couple of matches I played a lot of times against left-handed players, so for sure it's a little bit more tricky for me, especially against her today. I think her serve gave me a little bit of trouble, so I had to kind of find a way to break her.

Yeah, I'm just really happy with how I played and happy to be in the second round.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A lot of people were worried Roger might not get to play here anymore, in which case they would never get to see Federer against Nadal here in New York. Are you disappointed that it never quite did happen?

BELINDA BENCIC: Like what did happen, his injury or...

Q. That he never got to play Nadal here in New York.

BELINDA BENCIC: Oh, yeah, I mean, of course I hope he will play Nadal again and he will play again. But I'm sure, but I cannot answer this question, because I don't really know -- you have to ask him for that.

But for me personally, I definitely hope that he will be back soon. I'm very positive about it, for sure, because he loves tennis so much. Hopefully we can see him again.

Q. When we spoke in Cincinnati, you were still I think on that cloud nine. Have you come down to earth completely now? Do you think about Tokyo at all?

BELINDA BENCIC: I'm still on cloud nine, I would say (smiling). I would still say I'm on earth, you know. I realize everything. Of course I'm focusing on this tournament and just on playing well.

But I feel like I want to be on cloud nine all the time. So I kind of, yeah, I'm very happy about it. And just I feel like these memories I will have forever. And kind of this Olympics experience, my first Olympics, and just how everything went with winning the gold, for me it's forever and for me it's probably going to be the biggest achievement I will ever have. I'm still very happy about it.

Q. Do you believe it will be a biggest achievement, but there is still the opportunity to win any number of majors.

BELINDA BENCIC: Well, I think for me the Olympics is the biggest thing, so that's why I said it. But of course I want to achieve more things, and I have more dreams. But I think for me the Olympics is the biggest kind of, how you say, yeah, it's on the biggest (smiling).

Q. At this moment you are the flag bearer of the Swiss tennis, not to mention after your fantastic win in Tokyo and the absence of Roger. How do you like it? How do you handle this new role and the pressure that all eyes in Switzerland on you?

BELINDA BENCIC: I don't think so. I feel like we have, I mean, we have four Swiss women now in the main draw, so I think that's great.

I don't feel like I'm the only one that their eyes are on me. For sure I'm very happy and like proud to be kind of holding the Swiss flag up on the tournaments that Roger and Stan cannot play.

But for me, it's not a pressure at all, because to even kind of have this chance in Switzerland, because Switzerland is a very country that has great players, so a little bit spoiled maybe in this. But I don't see this as pressure. I see it for sure as a privilege.

I definitely feel like I'm not the only one, and I hope we can, like, establish all of us, me, Jil Teichmann, Vickie Golubic, and Stefanie Vogele like as a kind of, yeah, all of us to be maybe like Stan and Roger (smiling).