	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

WUHAN OPEN

September 28, 2019

Alison Riske

Wuhan, Hubei, China

A. SABALENKA/A. Riske

6-3, 3-6, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Talk through the match from your side of it. Looked like the second and first set were pretty good from you, but something shifted in the third.
ALISON RISKE: Yeah, she played a really solid first set. I knew going into the second, I was going to have to push back somehow. I wasn't very forgiving of myself in the third. It kind of worked on my head a little bit. I really lost it. It was really tough.

I'm really disappointed in my mentality in the third set. I think I could have brought more out of myself. Still moving forward, I think that's something I have to work on.

But obviously credit to Aryna. She's playing amazing tennis for me and made it very difficult for me.

Q. In the first two sets, what were you able to do, what tactics worked?
ALISON RISKE: Yeah, I tried a few different things to return her serve. I think we kind of got somewhere in the end. Obviously for me to kind of win the second set, I had to figure it out to a certain extent.

Yeah, so I managed my service games. When I had a swing, I kind of took it. It only lasted for that second set (smiling).

Q. In the rallies, it seemed like you were getting the better of her a lot, but they were high powered both sides. Did it become mentally draining to deal with that power?
ALISON RISKE: Yeah, I think definitely. I honestly think it was all mental today, to be honest, because points were short. It wasn't a lot of physicality out there. I think mentally it was a lot.

Credit to her. She just played -- she was better today.

Q. A question about her serve. How big is it compared to other players?
ALISON RISKE: I think what makes her serve really special, too, is she hits her spots extremely well. You might be covering wide, but she'll still ace you wide. It's like her accuracy is very high.

Honestly, in the second set I was able to snag it because her first-serve percentage went down, at least in my opinion. I don't know what the stats say. I had looks on more second serves.

Q. The second serve isn't bad either.
ALISON RISKE: No, by no means is it bad. But you have a much better look at it.

Q. On her ground game, you've played so many big players like Serena at Wimbledon, how does Aryna's power compare with others?
ALISON RISKE: She definitely is a power player. I don't know as far as where it ranks up there. But, yeah, she plays flat, she plays fast. Yeah, she's obviously one of the best in the world.

Q. What do you take away from this great week in Wuhan and carry forward? What positive things do you take and things you want to work on?
ALISON RISKE: Yeah, I think all in all, it was obviously an amazing week for me. It was a huge week in many regards. I'm super proud of the week I had.

I have a little bit of a bittersweet taste after the third set there today just because I know mentally I could have done a better job. I think that's going to come with putting myself in this position more often and playing.

I played the top players in the world the last few days. I think the more I can put myself in those positions, have that success, I think the more I'll expect out of myself, too, in those moments, know that I can come out on the other end.

Q. It seems like you've been incredibly focused on the task at hand. In a lot of ways it's been a career week for you. Beijing is a couple days away, but do you allow yourself to let it sink in, revel in what you did this week?
ALISON RISKE: Yeah, I think it's interesting. I think with the mentality that I've been trying to find, trying to have each week, I really think this is just how it should be, this should be the normal.

Obviously I'm very proud and I'm excited for what happened. But I think this should be what I expect of myself each week.

Q. With this week you're moving up on the Race leaderboard, Zhuhai now becomes a possibility. Is that something at all you and Billy were talking about going into the Asian swing? Is that a goal of yours?
ALISON RISKE: To be honest, we haven't talked at all about it. It would be nice if it happened. That's definitely not top of my priority list.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297