Injury-free and inspired by Olympic appearance, Alison Riske enjoys winning start on hard courts

WATCH: Riske won an all-American battle with CoCo Vandeweghe to kick off her San Jose campaign.

WTA veteran Alison Riske is back on her feet.

The 31-year-old had won just one match in seven events since tour competition was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, and then went just 2-3 on the grass—usually her favorite part of the season.

But then again, she was more or less competing on one leg—or least, one foot—during what she describes as the "most challenging" stretch of her career so far.

''I've had plantar fasciitis since the tour started again. I had Achilles tendinitis and then I developed plantar fasciitis," she told press from the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, California, this week, responding to a question from TENNIS.com. "It forced me to withdraw from events before Australia. I played Australia, I took a couple of months off, played Madrid. Rome, I had another issue with it and was forced to pull from other events.

"I was finally healthy for the grass season, but I didn't have any practice behind me.”

Now, that's changed. "I'm finally 100 percent," Riske said. "It's about time."

That is showing this week, as she defeated CoCo Vandeweghe to win her opener at San Jose.

Riske is also inspired from having just returned from Tokyo, her first time competing at the Olympics.

"Everything was unbelievable except the tennis in Tokyo. Even given the circumstances, it exceeded all of my expectations,” she said.

“I was so honored to be there. Walking into the Village for the first time was one of the best feelings I've had. I didn't go to college and I felt like I was walking on a college campus just full of athletes."

Riske wanted to get the full experience at the Games and though she fell in the first round to Mihaela Buzarnescu, she can't say it gave her opponent had a competitive advantage.

"I did the opening ceremony, knowing I probably wouldn't get back to the hotel until 1 a.m. and I played the next day, but I was like, 'I'm doing it anyway,'" she said. "I actually saw Buzarnescu there too, which made me feel a little better. It's one of the greatest things I've done in my career."

Back playing injury-free, she's currently ranked No. 37—7th among the 14 Americans in the Top 100 on the WTA Tour.

"I don't know when it was this deep; I've been playing on tour for 12 years, and I've never seen anything like it,” Riske said.

Riske is the No.9 seed at WTA San Jose.