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“I haven’t even slept yet.”

Bencic: “We are delighted that there was so much interest in Switzerland”

After their great triumph at the Billie Jean King Cup, the Swiss tennis players are back in Switzerland. blue Sport spoke to Belinda Bencic, Jil Teichmann and team captain Heinz Günthardt.

14.11.2022

After their great triumph at the Billie Jean King Cup, the Swiss tennis players are back in Switzerland. blue Sport spoke to Belinda Bencic, Jil Teichmann and team captain Heinz Günthardt.

The Swiss tennis heroines look a bit tired when they land in Zurich the day after their great success in Glasgow. Obviously, the victory at the Billie Jean King Cup was celebrated in style. “I haven’t slept at all,” laughs Belinda Bencic into the blue microphone when asked how the party night was. “We celebrated as a team, went out to eat and then went out. It was great, the atmosphere was great.”

The efforts of the last few days only came to light the next morning. “The whole body hurt,” says Bencic, who is responsible for the greatest team success in the history of Swiss women’s tennis alongside Jil Teichmann, Viktorija Golubic and Simona Waltert.

“It feels super good, we are all super proud,” says the current world number 12. “We are also very happy that the interest in Switzerland was so great. And that we were able to win this trophy for Switzerland. It took a long time, we finally got him!”

Last year, the Swiss women had to admit defeat in the final. “We were so close and knew we could do it,” Jil Teichmann looks back. “We cried in the dressing room and I said to Belinda: ‘We’ll get this trophy at some point!’ Of course I didn’t expect it to work out so quickly either.”

With her hard-fought victory over Storm Sanders, Teichmann put Switzerland on the road to victory on Sunday and played a big part in the triumph. “For me it’s a highlight in my career, if not the biggest highlight so far,” she says. “We’ve wanted to win this title for a long time, and now we’ve finally done it. Indescribable.”

Günthardt hopes for a tennis boom

For team captain Heinz Günthardt, the great team spirit of the Swiss women was the key to success: “They make each other stronger. Not just during matches, but throughout the week. Everyone is pulling on the same rope.”

Günthardt hopes that the triumph of the Swiss women can trigger something. “The hope is that many young women will see that tennis is cool and that you can also get really good in Switzerland. And if you’re really good, you can make a living from this sport. There aren’t many women’s sports where you can earn as much as tennis.” Perhaps winning the Billie Jean King Cup will encourage more girls to play tennis, Günthardt hopes. “That would be a good thing.”

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