_(48199060706).jpg) Riske at the2019 French Open | |
| Country (sports) |  United States |
|---|---|
| Born | (1990-07-03)July 3, 1990 (age 35) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Turned pro | 2009 |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Coach | Yves Boulais Billy Heiser[1] Thomas Gutteridge |
| Prize money | US$ 6,816,316 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 414–343 |
| Career titles | 3 WTA, 9 ITF |
| Highest ranking | No. 18 (November 4, 2019) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | 4R (2020) |
| French Open | 2R (2014,2022) |
| Wimbledon | QF (2019) |
| US Open | 4R (2013,2022) |
| Other tournaments | |
| Olympic Games | 1R (2021) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 88–132 |
| Career titles | 1 ITF |
| Highest ranking | No. 40 (January 13, 2020) |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (2019) |
| French Open | 3R (2014) |
| Wimbledon | 3R (2022) |
| US Open | QF (2020) |
| Other doubles tournaments | |
| Olympic Games | 1R (2021) |
| Team competitions | |
| Fed Cup | W (2017), 2–3 |
Alison Riske-Amritraj (néeRiske; born July 3, 1990) is an inactive Americantennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 2019 and won her firstWTA Tour title in October 2014, at theTianjin Open.
She has won three WTA Tour singles titles, along with nine singles titles and one doubles title on theITF Circuit. Her best singles performances at Grand Slam tournaments include reaching the fourth round of theAustralian Open in2020, the quarterfinals atWimbledon in2019 (where she defeated world No. 1 and reigningFrench Open champion,Ashleigh Barty, in the fourth round) and the fourth round of theUS Open in2013. Despite having not won a WTA doubles title, Riske-Amritraj has had success in doubles at the major-level, reaching the2019 Australian Open semifinals withJennifer Brady and the2020 US Open quarterfinals withGabriela Dabrowski, reaching a career-high doubles ranking of No. 40 on January 13, 2020. She has had numerous career wins over current and former top 10-players such as Barty,Elina Svitolina,Sloane Stephens,Petra Kvitová,Agnieszka Radwańska,Kiki Bertens,Naomi Osaka,Belinda Bencic,Flavia Pennetta,Garbiñe Muguruza,Daria Kasatkina,Angelique Kerber, andJulia Görges.
The daughter of Al and Carol Riske,[2] she first played tennis at the age of three, after her dad took her out to hit.[3] Her father worked in the Secret Service and later as an FBI investigator, while her mother was a school teacher, but both are now retired.[4] Her sister,Sarah, who is also a tennis player, played forVanderbilt University and had a brief professional career,[3] rising as high as No. 372.[5] Her brother, Dan, played college tennis for West Liberty State,[6] and is now an accountant.[4]
Educated by the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School,[6] she played during fall 2006 forPeters Township High School, where she led the girls' tennis team to the Pennsylvania State championship, and won the championship in singles.[2] The following year, she won the USTA National Collegiate Clay Court Championship to earn a spot in theUS Open qualifying draw, where she won her first match overSorana Cîrstea before losing toJulie Ditty. She also won the ITA Summer Claycourt Championship and finished second at the USTA National Hardcourts that year. In early 2008, she earned the No. 1 ranking in her country in Girls' 18s competition.[7] She got her first taste of the professional circuit later that year, when she served as a hitting partner for theUnited States Fed Cup team in their semifinal against Russia.[8]
In her early career, Riske was coached by Janice Irwin, coach of the girls' tennis team at nearby Upper St. Clair High School.[9] She later began working with Yves Boulais, the husband of former professionalPatricia Hy-Boulais, alongside her sister Sarah. She briefly trained at the USTA training center in Boca Raton, Florida, as well as Van der Meer Tennis Academy in Hilton Head, South Carolina. She trained with Yves Boulais at the end of 2012.
In late July 2019, just a few weeks after reaching her first major quarterfinal at Wimbledon, Alison married her long-term partnerStephen Amritraj (nephew ofVijay Amritraj and son ofAnand Amritraj) in her hometown,Pittsburgh.[10] In March 2024, Alison announced she was expecting a baby girl in July.[11]
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Riske came into 2009 ranked 895 in the world.[12] A senior in the class of 2009, she had signed a letter of intent to play college tennis at Vanderbilt University.[7]
In May, Riske began a run on the ITF Circuit. As a qualifier, she reached the semifinals of a pro tournament inIndian Harbour Beach, Florida. In June, she reached the finals of a tournament in Hilton Head, and again as a qualifier, reached the semifinals of a tournament in Boston. Her form continued as she reached another semifinal, this time in Atlanta.
By the time of theUS Open, her ranking had improved to 344, over 500 places from when she started the year. She was granted a wildcard into the qualifying tournament of the US Open, but fell in three sets toYulia Fedossova. Before the US Open, Riske made the decision to give up her scholarship to Vanderbilt University and turn professional largely in part due to her breakthrough year.[13] Riske continued her form to the end of the year where she broke through at an ITF tournament in Troy, Alabama. Again as a qualifier, she defeated compatriotChristina McHale to take the title there. She finished 2009 ranked at No. 232.[12]
Riske began 2010, her first full season as a professional, by reaching the semifinals of an ITF event in Rancho Mirage, California. She played in several qualifying tournaments forWTA Tour events with little success until June, when she qualified for the grass-courtBirmingham Classic, and went on to have her professional breakthrough, earning wins overAleksandra Wozniak,Anna Chakvetadze andYanina Wickmayer before losing in three sets toMaria Sharapova in the semifinals. This led to her being offered a main draw wildcard to Wimbledon,[4] her Grand Slam debut, where she lost in a rematch against Wickmayer in the first round. In October, Riske completed an impressive run of winning a $75k, a $50k and a $50k, in three straight weeks.
In 2011, Riske reached the finals of $50k in Indian Harbour Beach. A few weeks later, she had success on grass reaching the semifinals of Nottingham and quarterfinals of the WTA Tour eventBirmingham Classic. Riske completed 2011 with a successful run in Europe winning in Joué-lès-Tours and Limoges, and finishing the year ranked 136.
At theUS Open, Riske caused a big upset when she defeated formerWimbledon championPetra Kvitová in the third round,[14] before she lost in the following round to former world No. 5,Daniela Hantuchová.
Riske reached the quarterfinals at theHobart International, beatingAnastasia Pavlyuchenkova andCasey Dellacqua. In theAustralian Open, She upset No. 23 seedElena Vesnina, and made it to the third round before losing to No. 9 seed,Angelique Kerber. At the WTA PremierBirmingham Classic, she reached the third round, after beatingLyudmyla Kichenok in the first round, and her twin sisterNadiia Kichenok in the second round.
At the inauguralTianjin Open in October, Riske was seeded sixth and defeatedÇağla Büyükakçay,Olga Govortsova,Varvara Lepchenko andZheng Saisai en route to the final, without dropping a set. She proceeded to win her maiden WTA title, defeating 17-year-oldBelinda Bencic. After the match, she said: "It's a huge accomplishment for me to win my first WTA title and I was here [in China] by myself, which made it even more special, just to know that I was able to do it by myself. I hope I can keep up the momentum and try to compete every week as best as I can."[15][16][17]
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Riske reached the final of theShenzhen Open in January losing there toAgnieszka Radwańska in straight sets. She also reached her first career final on grass at theNottingham Open where she lost toKarolína Plíšková. She then reached her third final of the year at theTianjin Open, where she won her first title back in 2014. Along the way, she earned one of the biggest wins of her career by defeating two-time Grand Slam champion, former world No. 2, and then-world No. 8,Svetlana Kuznetsova, in the semifinals. However, she lost in straight sets to Chinese home favorite, former top-15 singles player, and former doubles world No. 1,Peng Shuai, in straight sets.
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In January, Riske found success in doubles at theAustralian Open, reaching the semifinals withJennifer Brady (they scored two upsets along the way, beating the fourth seedsNicole Melichar andKvěta Peschke in the third round and the seventh seeds, sistersChan Hao-ching andLatisha Chan, in the quarterfinals) before falling to the second seeds and defending championsTímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic. She also reached the final in Shenzhen for the third time in four years, but lost to world No. 13,Aryna Sabalenka, her sixth consecutive loss in a WTA tournament final. However, she managed to change her poor luck in finals at the beginning of the grass-court season, when she reached her second final of the year at theRosmalen Open. After being bageled in the opening set, and facing five championship points in the second, Riske managed a comeback to upset home favorite and world No. 4,Kiki Bertens, in three sets. This was her second WTA singles title, her first on grass, and her first in over four and a half years. Her victory also catapulted her back into the top 50 for the first time since September 2017.
Despite the victory, Riske faced adversity with being placed in a difficult draw at Wimbledon. She caused a minor upset in the first round by defeating the 22nd seedDonna Vekić in three sets, followed by another three set win over the youngIvana Jorović. In the third round, Riske came back from a set down in the final set, to upset the 13th seed Belinda Bencic to reach the second week at a Grand Slam for the first time since the2013 US Open. She then recorded the biggest victory of her career by defeating the newly crowned world No. 1 and French Open champion,Ashleigh Barty, who was on a 15-match winning streak, in three sets (coming back from a set down for the third time in four matches) to advance to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she played the eleventh seedSerena Williams. Despite pushing the 23-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 to a third set, Riske ultimately succumbed to Williams, putting an end to the best Grand Slam run of her career. Nonetheless, her performance at Wimbledon catapulted Riske back into the top 40 for the first time in two years.
AtToronto, her first event following Wimbledon, Riske defeatedMaria Sakkari in the first round before falling to Karolína Plíšková in three tight sets. AtCincinnati, Riske lost in the first round to Maria Sharapova in two close sets. At theUS Open, Riske defeatedGarbiñe Muguruza in the first round before exiting in the second round toJeļena Ostapenko. AtZhenghzou, Riske defeated Angelique Kerber in the first round, before losing to Zheng Saisai in the second. AtOsaka, Riske lost toNicole Gibbs in the first round, before enteringWuhan. Once there, Riske defeatedKateryna Kozlova,Monica Puig andWang Qiang, before upsetting world No. 3,Elina Svitolina, in her first ever Premier-5 quarterfinal, then world No. 7, Petra Kvitová, in the semifinals. In the final, she lost to reigning championAryna Sabalenka, but this nevertheless was her best result in a Premier-level tournament. Following Wuhan, Riske enteredBeijing, where she defeatedAjla Tomljanović in the second round before falling to eventual championNaomi Osaka. This brought her singles ranking into the top 20 for the first time. By virtue of her performance throughout the year, Riske qualified for theElite Trophy for the first time in her career, where she was drawn in the Camellia Group. Riske lost both of her matches to compatriotSofia Kenin andKarolína Muchová, and failed to progress into the semifinals. Riske ended the year ranked No. 18, her career-high ranking.
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Riske opened her season at theBrisbane International, where she fell to eventual champion Karolína Plíšková in the quarterfinals. She then competed at theAustralian Open, where she was seeded 18th, her first time being seeded at a Grand Slam tournament. She dismissed the Chinese youngstersWang Yafan andZhu Lin in the first two rounds, then beatJulia Görges to advance to the fourth round in Melbourne for the first time. In a rematch with world No. 1, Ashleigh Barty, she was unable to replicate her success from Wimbledon, falling to the Aussie in three sets. She then lost early in Dubai and Doha, before the tour was shut down due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
Riske made her return to the tour with a first-round loss at the2020 Western & Southern Open. Despite being ranked 20th, she was seeded 13th at theUS Open due to several of the top 10 players pulling out over safety concerns. She defeatedTatjana Maria in the first round, but was upset by compatriot and world No. 128,Ann Li, in the second. In doubles, Riske partnered up withGabriela Dabrowski, the pair made it to the quarterfinals where they lost toAsia Muhammad andTaylor Townsend.
At theLinz Open, Riske won her third WTA Tour title defeating lucky loserJaqueline Cristian.[18] As a result, she returned to No. 51 having been ranked 73rd at the beginning of the tournament.
Riske made her way to her first final at theAdelaide International where she metMadison Keys in the title match, losing 1–6, 2–6 in just an hour.HerAustralian Open campaign was short lived, falling in the second round to Jeļena Ostapenko, in three sets. After two back to back losses, atIndian Wells was the following tournament where she won her next singles match. However, upon reaching the third round, she came up against fellow American Madison Keys, and lost in straight sets once again. HerMiami Open campaign ended in similar fashion, falling again in the third round in straight sets but this time to Naomi Osaka. Her clay-court season included a second-round loss at theFrench Open to world No. 1 and eventual champion,Iga Świątek.
Riske started her grass-court season entering theNottingham Open and was the sixth seed for the tournament. She won her first two matches in straight sets againstDaria Snigur andCaroline Garcia, respectively. In her quarterfinal match, she came up against localHarriet Dart. After winning a set a piece, Riske taking the second, the match was suspended to the next day due to rain. Upon resumption, Riske ran away with the third set dropping just one game. In the semifinal, she defeatedViktorija Golubic in three sets but fell just short in the final withBeatriz Haddad Maia defeating Riske in three sets to deny her a Nottingham Open title, after reaching the final for a second time.
Seeded 29th, she reached the fourth round at theUS Open for a second time in her career, defeatingEleana Yu,Camila Osorio, andWang Xiyu. In the fourth round, she lost to 17th seed Caroline Garcia, in straight sets.[19]
Riske started her 2023 season inAdelaide. At thefirst tournament, she lost in the first round of qualifying to Viktorija Golubic. Previous year finalist at thesecond tournament, she fell in the final round of qualifying toAnna Kalinskaya. However, due to the withdrawal of defending champion, Madison Keys, Riske earned a lucky loser spot into the main draw.[20] She was defeated in the first round byBarbora Krejčíková.[21] At theAustralian Open, she lost in the first round toMarkéta Vondroušová, in three sets.[22]
During the week of February 20, Riske competed at the first edition of theMérida Open. Seeded eighth, she lost in the first round to Wang Xiyu.[23] At the first edition of theATX Open in Austin, Texas, she was eliminated from the tournament in the first round by compatriotKatie Volynets.[24]
In March, she played at theIndian Wells Open and lost in the first round to wildcard and compatriot,Elizabeth Mandlik, in three sets, after having a 6–3, 4–1 lead.[25] She played her last match atWimbledon where she lost toPaula Badosa, before taking a hiatus.[26]
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | P# | DNQ | A | Z# | PO | G | S | B | NMS | NTI | P | NH |
| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | W–L | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | Q3 | 3R | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 4R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 8–12 | 40% |
| French Open | A | A | A | Q1 | A | Q1 | Q1 | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 2R | 1R | 2–9 | 18% |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | Q2 | 3R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 3R | 2R | QF | NH | 1R | 3R | 1R | 13–12 | 52% |
| US Open | Q2 | A | Q1 | Q1 | 1R | Q1 | 4R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 4R | A | 8–11 | 42% |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 5–2 | 5–4 | 0–4 | 0–4 | 4–4 | 1–4 | 5–4 | 4–3 | 0–3 | 7–4 | 0–3 | 31–44 | 41% |
| Tournament | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | W–L | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | A | 3R | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | SF | 3R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 9–9 | 50% |
| French Open | A | A | A | 3R | 1R | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 2R | A | A | A | 4–6 | 40% |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | NH | A | 3R | 1R | 4–8 | 33% |
| US Open | 1R | A | 2R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | QF | 1R | A | A | 6–10 | 38% |
| Win–loss | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 6–4 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 1–4 | 0–4 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 23–33 | 41% |
