But who is ... Maxime Cressy? #1🇬🇧

A 24 year old player born in Paris playing for the United States since 2018. He is one of those players who decided to leave their countries to try the "American dream". If we make an article on this player today, it is not for his education choice rather for his very atypical game style. Indeed Maxime Cressy is a server-volleyer, a style of play we had forgotten for more than 20 years...

His game style :

When the French federation stopped believing in him, he decided to go to the United States while keeping his visionary style of play (or outdated for some). The United States welcomed him and gave him a second chance to fulfill his tennis dream. Currently, he is considered the new ambassador of the serve and volley and is making great strides.

According to Fabrice Sbarro, there are three types of server-volleyers:

- The one who has a better serve than volley (Isner, Karlovic, Groth)

- The one who has a service equivalent to his volley (Sampras, Becker)

- The one who has a worse serve than his volley (Edberg, Noah)

After statistical analysis, we noticed that Cressy clearly belongs to the second category because he wins as many points with his serve as with his volley. What is also interesting to watch is his first volley when he goes to the net. The first bounce is very often short, like a player from the 90's like Stefan Edberg.

His experience :

Maxime Cressy started playing on the American circuit at the University of UCLA, he notably won the American doubles championship in 2019. He began playing for the USA in 2018. After a short period on the future and challenger circuit where he won four singles titles, he quickly moved into grand slam qualifying. He made his debut in the final draw of a grand slam at the 2020 US Open where he beat Slovak Jozef Kovalik but lost against the Greek Stéfanos Tsitsipas.

In 2021, he reached the second round of the Australian Open. He was shinning again during the US Open where he defeating the number 9 seed, Carreno Busta, in five sets. This match remains the biggest win of his career to this day. In November 2021, he won a fifth title (his third challenger) in Forli, Italy.

In 2022, his career takes a completely different turn at the 250 tournament in Melbourne, he gets out of the qualification and goes to the final with victories against Dimitrov and Opelka but fails against Rafael Nadal (the man who will soon shoot 21 grand slams). To confirm his good start to the season, Maxime Cressy reached the last 16 of a grand slam for the first time at the Australian Open. He beat his compatriot John Isner in the first round in five sets.

His expectations :

Maxime Cressy does not intend to stop here. When a journalist asked him if his goal is to get into the top 10 ATP, he answers that he sees himself even higher, in the place of number 1 in the world. The young Franco-American already has the mindset of a winner and wants to go far away. He has often been called crazy with his unusual style of play, but he knows that he is able to do a lot. Maxime Cressy shows exemplary perseverance and he is great to the tennis world. His style of play, considered as the server-volleyer of the modern times by Fabrice Sbarro, is optimized to perfection to the actual tennis.

Sbarr's opinion :

According to Fabrice Sbarro, Cressy has this winning mindset. He is able of going far and annoying many of his opponents. His career has only just begun and there is still a long way to go, but his hyper-optimized style of play can take him far. Maxime will have weapons on all surfaces,

According to Sbarr, it is very likely that Cressy will be in the top 10