New mom Belinda Bencic is back like she never left in 2025, and the 27-year-old’s resurgence has continued this week at the BNP Paribas Open. The former world No. 4, who gave birth to her first child, daughter Bella, last year, is through to the third round after wins over another one of the WTA’s traveling moms, Tatjana Maria, and a three-set thriller against No. 17 seed Amanda Anisimova, to mark her deepest run in the California desert since she reached the semifinals in 2019.
While Bencic has made her comeback from maternity leave look easy, posting a 15-4 record in 2025 with a title at the WTA 500 Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, she says that her success has come quicker than expected. That’s why the Swiss says that the comprehensive, paid maternity leave program announced by the WTA last week is “absolutely amazing.”
The new player-led program, advocated for by former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, among others, launched in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, will provide pregnant players with 12 months of paid maternity leave, and two months paid leave for players whose partners give birth, or who become parents by adoption or surrogate. It also provides grants for fertility treatments, including egg freezing and IVF. In a press release, the WTA hailed the program as “the first time in women’s sports history that comprehensive maternity benefits are available to independent, self-employed athletes.”
Read more: WTA players are now eligible for paid maternity leave funded by Saudi Arabia’s PIF
