Who is the unheralded player who upset No. 1 Barty?
Some facts about 29-year-old American Riske, who moves on to face Serena in the quarterfinals Tuesday
Another unheralded American pulled off a major upset at Wimbledon on Monday.
Alison Riske, a 29-year-old who grew up in the Pittsburgh area, knocked off No. 1 seed Ashleigh Barty in stunning fashion — 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 — to advance to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event for the first time in her decade-long career. It was just her third win against a top 5 opponent.
Riske will face Serena Williams in the quarterfinals Tuesday.
In the meantime, here’s a quick look at Riske — a former elite junior player who finally finds herself making waves on the sport’s biggest stage.
A tennis family
Riske was born and raised in western Pennsylvania as part of a tennis-crazed family. According to the Pittsburgh PostGazette, she started hitting tennis balls to her father in the street in front of their home when she was just three. The newspaper reported that Albert Riske loved the concept of individual sports in which his children’s success wouldn’t be influenced by others.
Though Alison Riske has had the most successful professional tennis career in her family, she is hardly the only athlete. Her older sister, Sarah, was a four-time all-American at Vanderbilt, and her brother Dan played collegiately at Division 2 West Liberty State.
Respect, and no distractions
Riske was an accomplished junior player even before she was a teenager — travelling and competing in tournaments at 12.
By 17, she was attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open. And, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, she was not your normal teenager — she didn’t own an iPod, nor have an account on Facebook.
Riske also made a name for herself with her demeanour on the court, according to the newspaper — never throwing or smashing her racket in frustration.
“I wouldn’t think of throwing my racquet because I get upset when I scrape it on a shot,” she told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I take care of my things.”
A slow, steady ascent
Riske planned to follow her older sister to Vanderbilt and verbally committed to enrol at the school after graduating high school. But a string of success in open tournaments during her senior season changed that plan.
“She would have not been happy with college tennis. There’s no way,” Janice Irwin, who coached Riske when she was a child, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “All of her life, she was a cut above.”
So instead of going to Vanderbilt, Riske turned pro in 2010. Three years later, she came close to cracking the top 50 — finishing No. 57 in the WTA’s rankings. She’s spent the five years since hovering in the top 100, winning two WTA events and reaching the final in a handful of others.
Paranoid because of dad
Riske’s father, Albert, is a former U.S. Secret Service officer who later worked for the FBI. Riske joked to CNN in 2017 that her father is similar to Robert De Niro’s character in “Meet the Parents,” and that he has made her “100 per cent paranoid.”