BILLIE JEAN KING CUP

November 13, 2022

Heinz Guenthardt

Belinda Bencic

Jil Teichmann

Viktorija Golubic

Simona Waltert

Emirates Arena

Team Switzerland

Press Conference

B. BENCIC/A. Tomljanovic

6-2, 6-1

Team Switzerland - 2

Team Australia - 0

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Heinz, I was in the press conference in Prague last year after the final. This is quite different. (Laughter.) How sweet does it feel?

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: It's extremely sweet. Maybe it's even sweeter after last year. I don't know, you know. You obviously can't compare.

We have been working for this a long time. Not just this week. Used to call it the Fed Express, trying to get to the end station, which is the title. You always stopped at the semifinal location or before unfortunately or last year in the finals.

That one more was very difficult to come by, and when things are really difficult and you finally conquer it, it's super sweet.

JIL TEICHMANN: Cheers.

(Applause.)

Q. Belinda, I wanted to ask with the Olympics last year and now this, what is it about playing for Switzerland that really brings out in the best in you?

BELINDA BENCIC: Yeah, probably I should just become a team player now and never play for myself again (smiling).

Yeah, the next tournament for us is the United Cup. So that's great. We are going to wear red and white again. So that means we are going to play some good tennis.

I'm not sure what it is, or actually, no, I'm very sure, because it's just what makes the team. I feel like I'm not playing for myself out there. I'm fighting for, you know, all the team and for all Switzerland, for our country. This was like a childhood dream coming true.

Hearing the National Anthem and watching the Swiss flag, it's really something big for me. I just feel like it brings out the best, brings out those extra percentages which maybe I cannot bring in the other tournaments.

But, yeah, after the Olympics, this is pretty big. I mean, this was a huge goal of ours, especially after last year. As Heinz said, I mean, it's so different that really the line between the heartbreak and the victory, it's so small, and the difference is so huge in emotion (smiling).

Q. Do you feel this can help you individually next year as well potentially?

BELINDA BENCIC: Yeah, absolutely. I'll just need Viki and Jil and Simona and Heinz and Phil in all my matches. I will just need them in all my matches. If they cannot make it, I'll just retire. (Laughter.)

Q. Well done to you all. Do you feel as if that was very much the missing link for your country, for Switzerland, in that collectively as players, not just you, but others have won Grand Slams and Olympic gold medals and Davis Cup, was the Billie Jean King Cup the one that you felt like you were really missing?

BELINDA BENCIC: Yeah.

JIL TEICHMANN: We are the first one ones, though.

BELINDA BENCIC: It was a period of time. Obviously of course we were going to win it at some point.

JIL TEICHMANN: Belinda, I told you last year.

BELINDA BENCIC: No, I'm just kidding, but we worked really hard for this, and we wanted this trophy so much. It means a lot to us. I mean, it's a privilege playing for our country.

I still cannot believe we actually did it. Ask us tomorrow, but yeah.

Q. It was obviously a real team effort this week. Can you talk us through your singles match today, a very close match up and down. How was it for you?

JIL TEICHMANN: I actually want to ask the rest of the team what they thought about the match.

I mean, I was expecting a fight from Storm. She's been playing very, very well all week long, so I knew it was going to be tough. I mean, I played her last year, but, I mean, doesn't matter.

I'm super glad that with the support of my team, we were everywhere, every corner, supporting each other, playing point by point and honestly ball by ball. Yeah, as Belinda said, we get this extra little percentage of energy and motivation when we are in a team, because it's not only about us. It's not only about myself, it's about us, it's about the country. This makes it really special.

Q. Viki, you weren't on court today, but you had two very vital wins earlier in the week. What does this triumph mean to you?

VIKTORIJA GOLUBIC: I mean, it means everything. We have been trying for many, many years, and we just always had like a great team spirit. We enjoyed every week we have been together.

We kind of always did our best, but it was still our goal to once get this trophy. Now we did it. I think we just can't believe it yet. So it was nice to have the role to kind of be on the court and, you know, get the point or be able to fight for the point.

But also, like, I enjoyed the part of being the supporter and tried to just give my best when Belinda or Jil were playing. Actually, like, it was way harder for me sitting out there, you know, in the bench. Like today in Jil's match, I was quite tight, actually.

But it was just a great week, and we enjoyed it so much.

JIL TEICHMANN: It was just meant to be finally.

Q. I noticed that you replicated the celebration that Federer and Wawrinka did in 2008 at the Olympics. Was that a plan, something you planned or just a spur-of-the-moment thing?

BELINDA BENCIC: No, I think it was just in the moment, because it's so iconic, at least for us in Switzerland. We see it everywhere, and they are so amazing. They were both our role models.

I'm so glad we have the same picture now on the female side.

JIL TEICHMANN: I haven't seen it yet, though.

BELINDA BENCIC: I haven't seen it yet. Hopefully we'll get the same picture, female and male.

JIL TEICHMANN: I just needed to lay down for a minute, soak it all in. I still haven't. But it was just, I don't know, we didn't think much. We just were in flow. We were just living the moment.

VIKTORIJA GOLUBIC: I actually remembered, like, the part when Stan was lying down and, you know, Roger did this hand thing.

BELINDA BENCIC: They were on fire.

VIKTORIJA GOLUBIC: I saw the picture, so I did the same. It was all, like...

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: It's a Swiss tradition.

VIKTORIJA GOLUBIC: We learned it very early.

JIL TEICHMANN: As a kid, you get taught like this. Like you need to do this.

VIKTORIJA GOLUBIC: How to behave when you win. (Laughter.)

Q. Heinz, you have obviously had a very long career in tennis, lots of different sort of roles, player, coach, captain. Can you sort of describe how the emotions you're feeling now compare to others that you felt in this sport?

BELINDA BENCIC: Are we finally your favorites?

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: How far do you want me to go back? Obviously playing yourself, you can't replicate. But the second-best thing to that is coaching this team, believe me.

Sitting on the court, and my adrenaline, if you could measure it, is sky high, right, because I'm kind of feeling them, what they are going through. It's difficult out there. It's very, very difficult.

You know, I'm trying to help, but I'm not hitting a single ball. So how much help am I? It's a unique position to be in, sitting on a court, not being able to hit a ball, because I literally can't, I'm too old, anyway. But participating and being so near everything at the same time and feeling literally what they are going through.

It's an absolute privilege. I mean, I don't think it compares to coaching somebody individually, because it's just, it's a different vibe.

JIL TEICHMANN: Cheers.

BELINDA BENCIC: Hear-hear.

Q. Heinz, do you have to keep the nails now, do you think?

BELINDA BENCIC: We do acrylic nails for Heinz now.

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: Yeah.

JIL TEICHMANN: For all the men in our team, and female, everyone.

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: Yes, because this week, we're all women, and it says so in the jacket, as well. The Billie Jean King jacket, the Billie Blue. She's very proud of the woman I am, it says in there (smiling).

JIL TEICHMANN: We are all women tonight.

Q. I was going to ask about the jacket. You're the first team ever to get the Tory Burch winners jacket. What did it feel like to put that on today?

JIL TEICHMANN: Privilege. As Billie says, "Pressure is a privilege," but this jacket as well, a privilege, we are the first ones and it's always going to be like that. We got first time for our country this trophy, and it's just very, very special. Cheers.

BELINDA BENCIC: No, but Viki, she told us before the match, like, Please, we need to get this jacket, okay? Everyone, get this jacket.

VIKTORIJA GOLUBIC: Yeah.

JIL TEICHMANN: We saw the ad so many times this week through the changeover. We're like, We need this.

Q. Heinz, what kind of legacy do you think this triumph can have on women's tennis in particular in Switzerland?

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: In Switzerland? Well, it's just to prove that you can become a world-class tennis player in Switzerland. This sounds obvious after Federer and Hingis and others, but you have to deliver, you know, because there is a lot of competition among sports, yeah.

I just believe when somebody sees us winning here and the emotions we go through, especially youngsters, hopefully to think it's cool. Let's play some tennis, you know. Keep the legacy going.