By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday January 21, 2020
Photo Source: David Gray/ Getty
It has now been over ten years since American Alison Riske passed on playing college tennis for Vanderbilt and took the leap of faith into professional tennis. It’s safe to say now that Riske knew what she was doing when she backed herself like that—the decision has more than paid off for the American, who enters a season ranked inside the Top 20 for the first time in her career after a 2019 that saw her reach her first major quarterfinal at Wimbledon.
In 2020 Riske will set about the business of maintaining her ranking and proving that she belongs among the elite. Maybe, if things go extremely well she will end up taking the next step into the Top 10. Ten years ago it might have seemed more ludicrous than possible, but this year it's a real target, looming.
If it happens it will be due to the fact that the Pennsylvania native is a player that has continued to evolve even as she approaches the age of 30.
After a difficult three-set win over Wang Yafan that took two days to achieve in Melbourne on Tuesday, Riske sat with Sam Gore and Rennae Stubbs and talked about the challenges she faced in the match which was halted due to rain after a set.
“To be honest there were a lot of nerves,” Riske said. “Honestly it was some really brutal tennis on my part… it was a real battle and honestly I’m very proud in the way that I fought through it because I feel like if that match happened a couple of years ago I would have checked out, so I’m honestly proud of my effort.”
Riske took the opening set in the contest but didn’t feel like she was playing well at all, and it could not have been easy to then go out there the next day and commit 17 errors in a second set that saw her get broken three times.
To her credit she soldiered on and defeated Wang 7-6(5) 2-6 6-3 win in three hours. So how is Riske able to come through these tough spots these days and what exactly is the reason that she has been able to work her way up to that elite ranking?
Cue the power of positive thinking…
Riske credits the work she has been doing with her coach Billy Heiser (a former player at the University of Illinois who has primarily coached ATP talent until he paired with Riske) for helping her overcome many of the challenges she faces on tour these days.
“At the end of the day it all comes down to my mental strength,” she told Stubbs as they chatted away on the ESPN set. “My mentality. I never really bought into that until I started working with my coach Billy Heiser—every day that’s what he is on me about most is my mental, he couldn’t care less about how I strike the tennis ball.”
Riske says the tennis was never the issue with her. The mentality, however, was another story.
“Most days my tennis is there,” added Riske, “If the mental is not I have no chance, so honestly I have learned so much about myself, more so in the last two years than in my entire career and I am just so excited about it and I feel really grateful that I have bought into the power of the brain.”
Don’t laugh, says Riske, the power of the brain is serious stuff.
“As silly as it sounds it really is what it is all about,” she says. “I’m 29 now, I just don’t think I was ready to have learned it earlier and as much as I wanted it and I wanted it to happen [in the past] I wasn’t ready.”
Riske, who defeated China’s Lin Zhu 6-1 6-3 on Day 3 and is set for a third-round clash with Julia Goerges in Melbourne, says the first step for her was being more forgiving.
“I think being forgiving of yourself,” she said. “I was so tight, and if I did anything that I didn’t think was correct on the tennis court I could not move on. I was so caught up in it, I thought ‘Well there was my chance and I just blew it.’”
Though it is still a work in progress these days the American has a much easier time letting the past stay where it belongs—out of the picture. And that is the secret that has allowed her to unlock her best performances to date.
Could another breakout performance be coming in Melbourne? The odds are certainly more likely now that Riske has added forgiveness to her practice regimen.
“Now if I have a rough service game I get back to business and I am back in the fight," Riske said. "First and foremost it’s about forgiving myself and still it is a challenge every day, and it’s off the court as well and I’m working on it every day.”