Belinda Bencic has expressed her disappointment at being forced to withdraw from her upcoming tournaments in Tokyo and Hong Kong.
Bencic was the fourth seed at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she was set to start out in the second round against either Ann Li or Ekaterina Alexandrova. But injury has forced the Swiss ace out of the WTA 500 tournament this week, and indeed the WTA 250 in Hong Kong in early November. She was the defending champion in Tokyo.
World number 20 Bencic has now issued a statement on her social media explaining the reasoning behind the withdrawals, which look set to bring her 2026 season to an end. It comes after she dropped six places in the WTA rankings after losing her second match at Ningbo.
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Belinda Bencic ends 2026 season because of injury
Sharing an update on a very surprising injury, Bencic has just posted on her Instagram story: “Well… a very frustrating end to the season for me. I am so sad and disappointed to have to withdraw from the Toray Pan Pacific Open, one of my absolute favourite tournaments throughout the year and in particular here in Tokyo, a city that means so much to me.
“A few days ago, I woke up with severe pain in my right foot. I had (and still have) no idea where that has come from, as nothing happened during my last match in Ningbo. And even the day following the match, I was completely fine.
“After taking an MRI and seeing the doctor here in Tokyo, it has been determined that I have several partial tears of the tibiofibular ligament in my right foot.
“I am still completely unsure when and how this occurred, but it is sadly preventing me from competing here in Tokyo this week and in Hong Kong next week. I am so sorry to everyone involved, but I cannot wait to be back next year and make up for lost time!”
| Top rank by year | Year-end ranking | |
| 9 | 2026 | – |
| 11 | 2025 | 11 |
| 19 | 2024 | 913 |
| 9 | 2023 | 17 |
| 11 | 2022 | 12 |
| 9 | 2021 | 23 |
| 4 | 2020 | 12 |
| 7 | 2019 | 8 |
| 37 | 2018 | 37 |
| 43 | 2017 | 165 |
| 7 | 2016 | 43 |
| 12 | 2015 | 14 |
| 32 | 2014 | 33 |
| 183 | 2013 | 212 |
| 612 | 2012 | 626 |
| 1058 | 2011 | 1059 |
It’s certainly a real shame for Bencic, who is expected to call time on her 2026 season with a win-loss record of 28-14. The former world number four was not able to add to her career title count, which currently stands at 10.
She reached the fourth round of both the French Open and Wimbledon this year, and suffered second and first round exits at the Australian Open and US Open respectively. Bencic was, however, a Grand Slam runner-up too. Playing alongside Flavio Cobolli, she reached the US Open mixed doubles final, losing to Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik.
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