New mother Belinda Bencic takes daughter Bella to practice, jokes about adding "new member" to her team as she eyes return to tennis

New mother Belinda Bencic is back practicing, which indicates that she is eyeing a swift return to tennis. The Swiss had taken infant daughter Bella to her training session as well.

Bencic has not played competitively since the 2023 San Diego Open, where she was the No. 5 seed but suffered a shock second-round loss to Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The former World No. 4 was expected to lead defending champion Switzerland's charge at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in November last year.

However, days ahead of Switzerland's first outing at the prestigious team event, Bencic announced that she was pregnant with her first child with partner Martin Hromkovic. As a result, despite being named in the Swiss Billie Jean King Cup Finals team, she did not play.

Fast forward to April 2024, and Bencic and Hromkovic announced that they had become parents to a baby girl who they named Bella. The former World No. 4 regularly shares updates on social media about Bella, and recently, took to Instagram to show that the little one was on the tennis court during Bencic's practice.

The post was captioned:

"Day 3."

Bencic shared the post separately as her Instagram Story and captioned it:

"New member of the team?" joking about adding Bella to her setup.

Belinda Bencic's Instagram Story featuring her infant daughter Bella attending the Swiss' practice session

Belinda Bencic and partner Martin Hromkovic readied a baby room for Bella in March this year

Belinda Bencic (L) and Martin Hromkovic (R) at the 2023 Adelaide International

Towards the end of March this year, Bencic revealed via a series of social media posts that she and Hromkovic had prepared a baby room in eager anticipation of Bella's arrival. Based on the images shared by the Swiss, the room features an adorable all-white bed with a hanging toy.

Bencic captioned one of the posts:

"Getting ready"

Another post featured a black-and-white image of the room, with the caption:

"So dreamy"

On the tennis front, Bencic is yet to share when she plans to make her competitive comeback. The former World No. 4 enjoyed a decent 2023, as she won the Adelaide International and the Abu Dhabi Open.

Bencic's win over Daria Kasatkina in the Adelaide International final saw her break back into the top 10 of the WTA Tour rankings. Her last top 10 ranking dated back to September 2020. Right now, due to months of inactivity, Bencic's ranking has dropped to World No. 91.