The 21st century
United States · born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1990 · right-handed · 's-Hertogenbosch champion and Wimbledon quarter-finalist, 2019
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QF
Wimbledon 2019, after beating world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty
5
Championship points saved against Kiki Bertens in the 2019 's-Hertogenbosch final
3
WTA singles titles, one on grass
18
Career-high ranking, November 2019
11-4
Main-draw record at Birmingham by 2012, against 0-13 everywhere else
Alison Riske was born in Pittsburgh in 1990 and first hit a ball at three, when her father took her out on court. In 2006, her only season of school tennis, she won the Pennsylvania high-school singles title; in 2009 she turned down a scholarship to Vanderbilt University and turned professional. Her breakthrough came on grass at Birmingham in 2010, where she came through qualifying to the semi-finals.
She won her first WTA title at Tianjin in 2014, lost six finals in a row, then won 's-Hertogenbosch in 2019 and reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals the same month. She rose to No. 18 that November, added a third title at Linz in 2021 and played the Tokyo Olympics. She married the former ATP player Stephen Amritraj in 2019 and has since played as Riske-Amritraj. Her last match was at Wimbledon in 2023, and the WTA lists her as inactive.
| 's-Hertogenbosch 2019 | Beat KarolÃna Muchová, Polona Hercog, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Veronika Kudermetova, then top seed Kiki Bertens 0-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the final, from 0-6, 1-4 down and after saving five championship points. The week before she had won the ITF event at Surbiton, also on grass |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon 2019 | Beat 22nd seed Donna Vekić, Ivana Jorović, 13th seed Belinda Bencic and world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, then lost to Serena Williams 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals |
| Grass finals lost | Nottingham 2016, to KarolÃna PlÃÅ¡ková; Nottingham 2022, to Beatriz Haddad Maia |
| Birmingham | Semi-finalist in 2010 as a qualifier, losing to Maria Sharapova, and again in 2012 |
| 's-Hertogenbosch (Rosmalen) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Women's singles Rosmalen Grass Court Championships | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I looked at the clock, and it was 6-0, 1-0 at 32 minutes in, and I thought, 'I can't possibly be bageled in a final.'"
The person behind the player.
Birmingham, 2012
Before Wimbledon in 2012 she was 11-4 in main-draw matches at Birmingham and 0-13 at every other event. "I love playing on grass, and I have some friends in Birmingham and people supporting me, and I think that's huge," she said. "I always seem to play well there."
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewPeters Township, 2006 to 2009
She won the state singles title in her only season of high-school tennis, then gave up a scholarship to Vanderbilt to turn professional and moved to Hilton Head to train year-round.
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's-Hertogenbosch, June 2019
She had lost all three previous matches against Bertens and had not won a title since her first, at Tianjin in 2014. "I've been in a few finals since the last one that I won, and I wasn't able to pull it out," she said. "To do that today in such a fashion, was extra special."
Source: Tennis.com2019
In 2019, the year of her Wimbledon quarter-final, she married Stephen Amritraj, a former ATP player and nephew of the former world No. 18 Vijay Amritraj.
Source: Tennis.com2024
She announced her pregnancy with a video in which the couple's new dog, Teddy, wearing a pink crown, licked the frosting off a cake marked "Boy or Girl?". The caption read: "Little sister Amritraj coming in July!"
Source: Tennis.comFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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