A junior Wimbledon champion in 2013, Bencic enjoyed a breakthrough year at senior level in 2015, including wins over Serena Williams and Simona Halep, and in February she burst into the top 10 for the first time. In an era when most players develop late, the 19-year-old is the No.7 seed for this year’s Championships and is many people’s dark horse to upset the favourites.

All the hype would be enough to have many players scrambling for cover but Bencic is a resilient, confident young woman and believes she belongs at the top. “I think it was very important to get here [to the top 10],” she said in an interview. “It’s my dream to get here so why would I always feel more pressure now? I’ve always wanted to be a top 10 player, to be on the big courts, so I should enjoy it now.

 “I think a lot of people before me made the mistake of feeling too much pressure or stopped working so hard, I don’t want to make the same mistake,” she said.

 “Obviously it’s known that a lot of players couldn’t handle the pressure, they felt like they had to win every match. Definitely it’s not automatic that because you’re top 10 you’re going to win every match, you have to work the same for it. So on the court, I always feel the same, I don’t think, 'OK, now I am in the top 10 it is going to be easy'.”

A back injury, which kept her out for a month and forced her to miss the French Open, was followed by a thigh strain on her return in Birmingham this month. Former semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova represents a big challenge in round one but Bencic says she is raring to go.

As she showed when winning in 2013, Bencic’s game seems well-suited to grass. Like Hingis, she absorbs power with ease, takes the ball early and has a tactical brain the envy of her rivals.

“I don’t have to change my game for grass,” she said. “It’s just very natural, so when I first time I played on grass, I loved it from the beginning. It was just a moment like this and I always look forward to playing on grass and every time the grass season is over, I’m like, oh now I have to wait another year to come back.

“It’s not particularly much faster but it’s deeper [the ball bounces lower], and for my game it’s very good because I take the ball early, so I can do something with the ball also that is more creative.”

Bencic bears a startling resemblance to the former world No.1 Monica Seles at the same age, even if she herself doesn’t see it. “Really? Everyone says it but I don’t think so.” But it is another former No.1 Hingis – now the doubles No.1 – whose presence in the stands inspires Bencic during her matches and whose ear she has off-court.

“Of course it helps,” she said. “We’re basically around the same tournaments together, we practise often together and it’s very good to have her around a lot. Then when I go back, I practise back with her mother, so it’s a great situation.”

With her talent, maturity and belief, Bencic is likely to be a contender for all of the Grand Slams, providing she stays fit, but one of them means a little more than the others. “It’s Wimbledon,” she said, without hesitation. “My favourite surface, I love the tournament so much, it’s my favourite Grand Slam. I just think this one could be a good one for me.”