Fresh off a run to the final at Eastbourne, American Maxime Cressy is ready to bring his serve-and-volley show to Wimbledon, where he will make his main draw debut on Tuesday against 2021 quarter-finalist and No.6 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
This time last year, Cressy was ranked outside the top 150; today he is No.45 in the world, thanks to a unique ultra-aggressive game that has troubled top opposition.
He knocked out world No.18 Reilly Opelka, No.33 Daniel Evans, No.12 Cameron Norrie and talented up-and-comer Jack Draper before losing a final-set tie-break against world No.14 Taylor Fritz at Eastbourne.
Wimbledon.com runs the rule over the 25-year-old...
Mixed roots
Cressy was born in Paris to French father, Gerard, and American mother Leslie, who played volleyball at USC.
He grew up in France but moved to the United States to spend his senior year of high school at Weil Academy in Ojai, California. He was recruited by UCLA, where he played college tennis from 2015 to 2019.
“He left the French Federation because of their determination to try to make him a ground-stroker and not play the serve-and-volley tennis that he enjoyed playing, which he does quite well,” Cressy’s former college coach Billy Martin told atptour.com in an interview last year.
Late bloomer at UCLA
He may be a top 50 player now, but during his freshman year at UCLA, Cressy didn’t even make his university’s singles line-up.
He only hit his stride in his senior year, earning the No.1 spot on the singles squad and winning the 2019 NCAA doubles championship alongside Keegan Smith.
Serve and volley
The 6ft 6in (1.98m) Cressy told atptour.com he started adopting a serve-and-volley game when he was 14 when his elbow started troubling him during a match. He didn’t want to retire from the contest and opted to serve and volley his way to victory instead.
“It was the first time I experienced (the feeling of) putting volleys away and I loved it, so I decided that was the game plan I wanted to use for the rest of my life,” he recalled.
He grew up admiring the likes of Pat Rafter, Richard Krajicek and Pete Sampras, who epitomised the lost art of serve and volley.
“These guys inspired me to serve and volley. I was a big fan of Pete Sampras, and when I was 13, 14, I had a sudden realisation that I just didn't want to play baseline game, I just wanted to serve and volley all the time.
“I didn't have the results at first, but I did it because I enjoyed it and because my dream was to win Wimbledon. So that's how I started serving and volleying.”
Stepping up at the Slams
In what has been a short Grand Slam career so far, Cressy has a strong record in opening rounds, having lost his first match just once in five appearances.
Cressy reached the Australian Open fourth round, his fourth Grand Slam main draw outing.
His first win against a player from the top 20 also came at a Slam when he upset No.12 Pablo Carreno Busta at the last US Open.
Qualifer Cressy, No.151 in the world, rallied back from two sets down, saving four match points en route to a breakthrough win.
Mission statement
Cressy enjoyed a great start to the 2022 season, reaching the final of the Melbourne Summer Set tournament – as a qualifier – before losing to Rafael Nadal, and making the quarters in Sydney and the second week at the Australian Open.
He attracted plenty of attention and told reporters he is on a mission to bring the serve-and-volley style back to life.
“My vision from the very beginning was to bring serve and volley back. I’ve had many different people tell me that it’s dead, that it’s not going to be efficient or effective today,” he said in January.
“I’ve heard many excuses that it was not going to be the best style for me, but I had a vision and I believe it’s going to happen.”
Cressy goes all out on both first and second serves, which means on a good day, he can be lethal, and on a bad one, his double-fault count can be through the roof.
“The mindset is to go for it. Sometimes I have good days, sometimes bad days and I feel like on the good days it’s very difficult to beat that style of play going for both serves,” he explains.
Rivals alerted
When Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Cressy at the 2020 US Open, he described him as “a rare species of a tennis player, that's what he is”.
Nadal, who claimed a tight 7-6(6), 6-3 win over Cressy in Melbourne, said the American “has good potential”.
“He's going to be a very uncomfortable player for every opponent, for the top opponents, for the lower-ranking opponents,” Nadal stated. “He's young on the tour, so he has room to improve.”
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