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US OPEN

August 27, 2019

Alison Riske

New York, NY, USA

A. RISKE/G. Muguruza

2-6, 6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Your 11-year career. Glorious moments: Wimbledon quarterfinals, title, Fed Cup glory. You even got permission from your father to marry a guy. Along with those accomplishments, how are you feeling about this long US Open drought?
ALISON RISKE: Yeah, I feel great. It was an awesome match today. Really proud of the way I fought through the entire match. Even though the first set didn't go as planned.

Yeah, so I'm looking forward to the next match. Yeah, it's been a good run, for sure.

Q. Were you surprised that she didn't bounce back in the third set? Did you sense that she was depleted at that point?
ALISON RISKE: I didn't think she was depleted at all. I think I played a really good third set. I think she kept her level throughout the whole match. Maybe the speed on her serve decreased just a little bit, on first and seconds. But I that her game was standard throughout the entire match. I thought she played a really high level.

Yeah, I played really solid.

Q. What sort of adjustments did you make after that first set?
ALISON RISKE: I think honestly I played a couple sloppy games on my serve. I knew going into the second that if I was going to have any chance of coming back I was going to have to manage them a little bit better.

I always have looks on people's serves, so I don't really worry about my return games too much. I feel like I just -- I did exactly that, and I stayed present and tried to bring the fight. It worked today.

Q. How much have some advanced data and video analysis become part of your preparation?
ALISON RISKE: Yeah, my coach gets information, as does my husband. They deliver it to me as required.

Q. Do you find that you make significant adjustments, small alterations?
ALISON RISKE: There are small adjustments, but I think there are big things to know, especially on big points. To know a player's tendencies, et cetera, I think is really important.

Q. So there was a nice event in Pittsburgh that you participated in a while ago. What was the best part of your wedding?
ALISON RISKE: Honestly, the whole weekend was awesome just to have everyone, you know, that we loved together. It was really special.

There were so many highlights. The Pittsburgh cookie table was definitely a hit, as well. I think my Bollywood dance went over well, as well.

Q. Is this a kind of summer of love for you? I mean, what a great couple. Can you put into words your Wimbledon run and then the wedding and now here? What's going on? What's happening? What are your thoughts?
ALISON RISKE: Yeah, I just keep saying I have been on tour long enough now at this point, I think I have matured a lot over the last couple of years. I learn something every day about my game, about my opponents, about what I should be doing and how I can compete at my best.

I think I have just come to a point where I have a little bit of freedom here. I feel really confident. I feel like I'm playing good tennis. I can compete with anyone.

So I just think there is a sense of freedom that's allowing me to kind of just play my best tennis.

Q. You have this big US Open win, and now you're at your career-high ranking. What's it going to feel like when you take the stage in the second round and you're the higher-ranked player?
ALISON RISKE: Well, I mean, I play plenty of matches where I'm the higher-ranked player.

Yeah, just looking to play my game, keep it going. Obviously we're not trying to just stop here and just winning one round at the US Open wasn't the intention. I'm looking forward to it and I'm just really excited that I have given myself a chance to play another match.

Q. Can you compare the nerves before the Bollywood dance with the nerves before a match here?
ALISON RISKE: That's hilarious.

Well, I practiced the Bollywood dance so much that I knew when I got up there -- if I didn't freeze I was going to be okay. Once I got past the initial first move I was ready to go.

I feel like tennis -- I take a lot more pride in my tennis than I do my Bollywood dance. I feel there's more nerves associated with that than the dance.

Q. Were you surprised it kind of went viral, that the video was circulating?
ALISON RISKE: Yeah, it was hilarious. The amount of Indian magazines and Indian influence or pages that picked it up was really entertaining for me and my husband. We both really enjoyed that.

Yeah, I can't say I have ever had anything in my tennis career that got as many watches or likes.

Q. What's it like to be a meme?
ALISON RISKE: Well, yeah, I don't have any comment (smiling). I didn't think I'd ever see the day.

Q. What kind of changes do you see in the sport in the time you have been around? Changing much and how?
ALISON RISKE: Well, I think there is probably changes that go on. We won't get into anything. But player-wise, I think that everyone that's playing these Grand Slams, I think everyone can beat everyone. And that's something I think when I first started out maybe wasn't necessarily always the case.

I feel like the young generation that has, you know, made a presence on the tour, I feel like they're getting younger and younger and really making statements.

I think it's really cool, and I think it does say a lot about the depth of the sport. I think there is a lot to look forward to in tennis, as well, just because there are so many great players at the moment.

Q. I guess it's fair to say you're now part of one of the great Indian families in tennis. Have you ever been there? Do you have a sense of what an incredible culture it is? Could you just talk about that?
ALISON RISKE: Yeah, yeah, I have actually -- I did go to Chennai and I met my husband's grandmother while she was still living, which was really special that I had the opportunity to meet her.

And India in general is unlike anywhere I have ever been in the entire world, not that I have hit every place. I feel you experience it with every sense literally. Like, just it's something that, yeah, you'll see things you never see before. You'll smell things you never smelled before. It's definitely an experience.

And hopefully we -- well, I'm sure we will go back together. We had the opportunity, as well, to go north to Delhi and travel to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, which was really special and one of our favorite moments together, for sure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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