Riske Rewarded with Satisfying Victory at Wimbledon

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Riske Rewarded with Satisfying Victory at Wimbledon

By Chris Oddo

(June 28, 2013) -- American Alison Riske was the media darling of Friday morning at the All England Club after upsetting heavily favored Urszula Radwanska of Poland, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach Wimbledon's third round.

Riske, who passed up a scholarship to Vanderbilt in 2009 to pursue her dream of being a professional tennis player, has taken her lumps on tour in the years to follow. But in 2013 her perseverance and affinity for grass-court tennis have landed her in the third round at Wimbledon.

The Pennsylvania native, who will turn 23 in less than a week, had never won a Grand Slam match in five previous attempts until Wimbledon.

In fact, she'd never won any WTA match outside of England.

Remarkably, all 13 of Riske's career wins have come on grass, at either Birmingham, where she reached the semifinals just two weeks ago, or Wimbledon. Elsewhere, the hard-serving American baseliner is 0-9 on hard courts and 0-2 on clay at the WTA-level.

What's her secret on the grass? “I just feel like the grass suits my game,” she said. “I feel comfortable on it. I love moving forward and being aggressive.”

Aggressive might be the understatement of the fortnight. Playing unabashedly, Riske hit 43 winners against only 16 for her crafty opponent from Poland, winning 33 of 48 points at the net.

Many are now eager to know if Riske will ever parlay the success she's had on the grass (her career record on the green stuff is a highly impressive 13-6) into better tennis on the other surfaces?

“Ultimately it's a mental thing,” Riske admitted. “If I can play like that here I feel like I should be able to play like that anywhere.”

For now, Riske will only have to worry about excelling on the green lawns of Wimbledon. With an unseeded opponent in Kaia Kanepi on tap for the third round, things could be worse for a largely unheraled journeywoman who has gotten lost in all the discussion about rising American stars Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys this year.

There's also that other American known as Serena Williams who tends to get a lot of attention, as well.

Having never cracked the top 100 (she came as far as 104 and is currently 126 in the world), Riske will have to regain her focus for her third-round match after stepping from obscurity into the media spotlight thanks to Friday's momentous win. After a whirlwind post-match media tour that saw her talk to Chris Evert and Tom Rinaldi on ESPN, then do a press conference in front of decidedly more journalists than she has career wins, she seemed to be basking heavily in the glory of her achievements this week.

Maybe a bit too heavily.

“Some things are definitely worth waiting for,” the Wimbledon wild card told Evert. “I always believed that it was going to happen. I just wasn't sure when.”

The conversation then turned to the baby blanket that Riske has lugged with her to all the remote locations across the globe where her tennis has taken her.

Riske couldn't help breaking out into emotionally tinged laughter at that point. “It's been there every second,” she said. “It's like a little rag, described as a bunch of threads put together.”

No doubt Risked will be clutching that blanket ever so closely tonight, with dreams of Wimbledon's second week dancing in her head.

(Photo Credit: AP)