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U.S. OPENAugust 29, 2013Alison RiskeNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK A. RISKE/M. Barthel THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Are you in the clouds to be in the third round here? ALISON RISKE: I'm definitely excited. I mean, being in the clouds, I'm not really in the clouds because, I mean, I only won a couple matches. Obviously, you know, I came here to do more than that. It's definitely exciting. I'm looking forward to being here for another day. Q. Where is home for you? ALISON RISKE: I'm from Pittsburgh. Q. Last year you participated here? ALISON RISKE: I did. I was in the quallies. I lost first round quallies. Q. So going into this you said you expected to do more. What were your realistic expectations coming in? ALISON RISKE: Well, you never know. You never know at these things. You know anything can happen. That's kind of the beauty of tennis in general. Ranking is kind of just a number. So it's exciting. Yeah, I just take it one match at a time and do the best I can. Q. Being from Pittsburgh, you're a Steelers fan, a Pirates fan? ALISON RISKE: I don't follow the Pirates too much. They've been doing really well. And the Penguins, I mostly follow Sidney Crosby. That's mostly what I care about. Definitely a sports fan. Q. This summer has been the first time you played exclusively on the WTA Tour, moving past the challengers. What has that experience been like? Has it given you the incentive to keep going forward? ALISON RISKE: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I obviously would love to be able to play a full WTA schedule. That's obviously the goal when you turn pro. You also have to be sure you're playing enough matches. Sometimes you have to go back and play some ITFs. Yeah, it's been wonderful. I had a great summer. I enjoyed every tournament, for sure. It was fun. Q. What was it like making the semis in Birmingham, going really deep into a tournament for the first time? ALISON RISKE: I actually had gotten to the semis there before, then I got to the quarters there. I just feel comfortable there. Obviously, it was great. I had a great win over Lisicki. I feel really comfortable there. Q. Do you consider grass your favorite surface? ALISON RISKE: I definitely love it. I love it. But I enjoy all the surfaces. I mean, I really do. Every surface has kind of its own special feel, I guess you could say. But, yeah, I do love grass, for sure. Q. When you look at the draw, every match is going to be tough, but you've had this pattern of getting top‑10 players in the first round. When you see lower seeds, do you think you can work your way into it now? ALISON RISKE: That's probably the worst thing I could think, you know, is that it's a good draw. There's no good draw. You can draw a wild card, and those players are just as good as everyone else. You really cannot think like that. I just have to focus on, you know, my game. Q. Did you turn pro out of high school? Did you go to college? ALISON RISKE: I actually signed with Vanderbilt in '09. Two weeks before class began, I turned pro, so... Q. What do you like about this tournament particularly? ALISON RISKE: Yeah, well, I think this is the first year I've really felt comfortable at the US Open. It's been pretty overwhelming before for me. I think now I just feel really comfortable. I feel great with my game. I just feel good with where I'm at. I feel like I matured a lot. I'm just really enjoying it. I think the electricity surrounding the Open is not comparable. Yeah, the fans are amazing. I mean, I think I heard my name like a hundred times today, so it was pretty cool. Q. Have you enjoyed New York at all? ALISON RISKE: No, I don't really do anything outside of my tennis. Maybe when I'm done, you know, I'll take a day or two to go around. But I'm pretty focused on getting the job done. Q. After you lost in the first round of quallies last year, did you leave or hang around? ALISON RISKE: No, there's no hanging around once I'm done. I go home. Yeah, that's how it goes. Q. There's a number of young American women proceeding quite well here. Do you notice that? Do you feed off each other in some way? ALISON RISKE: Yeah, it's a really good atmosphere amongst the Americans. I feel like there's a great support system. Obviously, when another one does well, it's kind of like, hey, we can all do this. Yeah, I mean, they're all young. We are all young. We're doing well. So it's really exciting. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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