00:00Yeah, of course, not the way you want to win the match, that's for sure. I really felt
00:08for her. I've been injured before, so I know how it feels. Of course, I think I will be
00:13more happy maybe tomorrow. Yeah, it's cool to be in the fourth round.
00:19Questions in English?
00:20Courtney.
00:21Congrats on advancing, Belinda. You said throughout the last few weeks that you're way ahead of
00:28schedule in terms of just being able to compete again and even the level that you've been
00:34able to play. I'm curious, now with the round of 16, how do you stop yourself from getting
00:41ahead of yourself and thinking that it's all going to be like you're right back to where
00:46you were?
00:50To be honest, it's not really... Before, I would always have more expectations if I would
00:57have bigger results, but it's not the case here. I don't even have to remind myself.
01:03My body just tells me. If I see Bel, I just see her being only eight and a half months
01:09now.
01:11Really happy with how the comeback is going. I don't really feel like my expectations are
01:16coming back. I'm just really happy with every match I get to play. Obviously, on this level,
01:21it's very different. I feel like I can improve and get better. Obviously, it's tough to say,
01:28but it's not really about winning right now. It's really about improving myself and getting
01:32back there to be able to also play the biggest tournaments again and be up there ranking
01:38wise.
01:39Ben, then Catherine.
01:40Belinda, I just wanted to clarify on your camera message. Was that to your mom or to
01:46Naomi?
01:47What you wrote on the camera?
01:49Yeah, that was to Naomi.
01:51To Naomi, okay. Just double check.
01:54Catherine.
01:55Hi, Belinda. From the outside, it feels really normal already that you're back at close to
02:04your top level and competing with the best in the world, and yet you only had your daughter
02:10eight and a half months ago, I think you said. Does it feel normal to you? Has this all happened
02:16quickly, more quickly than you were expecting? Or did you feel ready when you came back to
02:23make that progress quickly?
02:25Yeah, I just took it very slow from the start. My comeback and I was obviously listening
02:33a lot to my body. It's such a big change, physically mostly, and then you start to play
02:39and obviously you realize, okay, your tennis is there. So I took time to play last season
02:48some smaller tournaments to get in the rhythm of playing and obviously mastering the logistics
02:54of traveling with Bella and everything.
02:56So I would say if we wouldn't have got into the United Cup as Team Switzerland, I would
03:03even consider maybe not playing here in Australia just yet because I just would think it's too
03:08early maybe, but I'm really happy that we came here. I felt like the United Cup and
03:14also in Adelaide, I kind of got to play matches, went through qualifying and that helped me
03:20a lot to just kind of get the matches in. I'm just really taking it match by match and
03:26being appreciative that I'm able to play against top players and kind of testing myself.
03:34Was there a moment when you started training for your comeback where you were like, phew,
03:39the game's still there?
03:41Yeah, I mean, obviously not right away, but after a few months of practicing, for sure
03:46you feel that, I mean, I've done this all my life. I'm playing since I'm three years
03:50old, so I feel like that's like riding a bike. Your tennis is going to be there, but obviously
03:55the physical part is the most difficult and it's definitely not 100% yet. I definitely
04:01feel like I can improve a lot on my movement, on my reaction and on different aspects of
04:08my physical performance.
04:11Hi Belinda, congrats. I wanted to ask about your decision to play the small tournaments.
04:17First of all, sometimes when players come back from paternity leave, they maybe want
04:21to start playing the big tournaments, but you chose to play ITFs and kind of build up.
04:28What was that like and why did you decide to do that?
04:33Well, for me, it's kind of logical. I think you cannot just be out for a year and a half,
04:42I think, and kind of expect that you can just jump in right where you're left off. I think
04:48there's definitely something to build up. Obviously, I think the most important for
04:53me was to see and test my body, to test also playing back-to-back matches and obviously
04:59try to play a little bit on the lower tournaments and also work my ranking back up. I don't
05:06really want to come here from a cold start and just take wild cards and maybe lose first
05:13round twice and then win a round. That's not going to help me to come back. It's going
05:18to help me if I can really build and win matches and play matches and play three set matches
05:23and kind of improve myself by playing.
05:30Was it at all kind of weird to be back at ITFs, which at some point in your career you
05:36probably thought you'd left behind, right?
05:38No. I mean, I've done it before. I kind of enjoy it. It's very low-key. There's no circus
05:46around anything. It's just nice. It's just the tennis court, you play a match and you
05:50go back to the hotel. It's cool.
05:54You had Stella on April 23rd. How quickly were you back training on court in the gym
05:59and how many hours did you do at the beginning and what did that look like?
06:03One day after birth, I go back to the court, I played eight hours. I'm kidding. It's really
06:09difficult to say because obviously you're not training. It's just like trying to move
06:15your body a little bit. Obviously after pregnancy, I was dying to just work out a little bit
06:20or go to the gym or just have a run. It was really nice and obviously you want to get
06:24back in shape in any form, even if you're not a professional player.
06:32So I would say maybe like two months after birth, I hit for the first time. It was like
06:38five minutes on the small court and then I would increase every day by just a little
06:43bit and just do a little bit of fitness and obviously do a lot of pelvic floor exercises,
06:50a lot of physio from the start and then I would increase depending on how my body would feel.
07:00Belinda, you'll face either Coco or Leila in the next round. I'm just curious if you
07:05have any thoughts about each of them as an opponent.
07:09Yeah, I mean I know both really well. I played Leila a couple of times. She's an uncomfortable
07:15player. She's lefty. She tries to take the ball early and then also Coco, obviously one
07:19of the best players in the world right now. I was able to watch her a little bit when
07:23I was just lying on the couch for the last nine months. Yeah, of course, very difficult
07:32opponents.
07:34At the beginning, you said that it's not about results at the moment. Is there something
07:39that needs to happen? Do you have something in your mind as to what needs to happen before
07:43it gets to everything being about results again, so to speak? When will that moment
07:48come?
07:49I mean as soon as I will feel that I'm 100% and then I'm like ready to go and obviously
07:54I think it's all about learning and improving and of course it's about winning. I mean that's
07:59why we're here but at this moment I just feel like I still call this a little bit as
08:05a test. I mean I came here to see how it's going to be. Obviously I didn't expect to
08:10be in the fourth round so I'm not going to change my expectations based on the result
08:15here.
