Belinda Bencic joined by daughter Bella & pet dog as Swiss takes on daunting 'Stairway to Hell' off-season training

Former WTA World No. 4 Belinda Bencic revealed that she has commenced her training regimen for the 2025 season. However, she had some new companions this time: her infant daughter "Bella" and their dog.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics Gold Medal winner shared snippets from her ongoing preparations on social media.

"My pre-season partners," she captioned a story, adding the emojis for "baby" and "dog."

In the footage, she appeared to be climbing up a steep staircase, likely to enhance her endurance.

Bencic is gearing up for a major surge next year after a year out with pregnancy

In another caption, she asked whether the steps were a "stairway to heaven," deriving the pun from a classic Led Zeppelin song. However, Belinda Bencic crossed out "heaven," replacing the word with "hell," giving her followers a sense of the harrowing drill.

Bencic has compared her training regimen to "hell"

Bencic enjoyed a successful 2023, capturing two titles and re-entering the Top 10 after a brief slump the previous year. However, she announced that she was pregnant in November that year. The Swiss on April 23, 2024, revealed that she had given birth to a baby daughter with her long-time boyfriend Martin Hromkovic.

Subsequently, Belinda Bencic took several months away from the sport and only returned to competitive tennis in October this year.

Her best showing this year came at December's WTA 125 Open Angers Arena Loir, where she made the final, losing to Alycia Parks in three sets. She also featured in Switzerland's Billie Jean King Cup tie against Serbia.

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Belinda Bencic has revealed her mental state after becoming a mother

The Olympic Gold medallist is making a return to the sport after taking a year-long break due to pregnancy - Source: Getty

Belinda Bencic has underlined that her daughter was her primary concern after her birth. The Swiss said returning to the sport did not immediately come to her mind, as she was too preoccupied with thoughts about her baby.

"It all happened faster than I could have expected. I didn’t set any dates or time limits at first, I really didn’t want to put any pressure on myself and I didn’t know what could happen," she said (via Punto De Break). "All I thought about was the birth of my daughter and how I would feel after everything. People kept asking me about my return, but I was never able to give them much information."

Notably, Hromkovic and Bella were by Bencic's side when she notched up her first win in competitive tennis in a year at the W75 in Hamburg, Germany.