Maxime Cressy is legendary for his distinctive serve-and-volley ways, an old-school type that stands out within the fashionable recreation. The Paris-born American additionally has a particular strategy to the psychological facet of the game, utilising a mindset that meshes together with his aggressive play.
“My mentality is definitely unique,” Cressy instructed the ATP Tour in a latest on-camera interview, crediting his volleyball-playing mom and his two older brothers for serving to develop his aggressive spirit. “I put lots of emphasis on what I can management, on my serve, on being essentially the most environment friendly serve-and-volley participant.
“This is what scares my opponents the most, to be focussed on myself and not on them.”
With full confidence in his strategy, the 25-year-old has by no means shied away from setting lofty targets. After reworking himself from a “bench player” at UCLA to one in every of school tennis’ greatest, he sees no cause to not intention for the celebs on the ATP Tour.
“My main goal is to be No. 1 and dominate the Tour,” stated Cressy, who reached a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 31 final August. “I don’t put any limits on myself and I haven’t until now. That’s why I got to this level, and I believe that this mindset is going to carry me to a lot more success.”
He later added: “I can just visualise who I want to be and when. I have huge faith in that goal-setting. I’ve been doing it every single year for the past four, five years, and most of my goals have been coming true.”
To attain his more and more bold targets, Cressy is doubling down on what some would name a high-risk technique of all-out assault. But for him, there isn’t a different means.
“The big factor mentally, I would say, is to become so used to playing a risky game that it doesn’t become risky in your perception,” he shared. “The key to reach the next level is to stick to my serve-and-volley game, what is working. I’ve played the serve and volley and the big serve so many times that now it’s just natural and a part of me. I don’t consider my game a risky game today because I’m so used to it.”
Cressy gained 88.8 per cent of his service video games within the 2022 ATP Tour season, good for fifth on the leaderboard. But he broke serve in simply 13.2 per cent of return video games, putting him 76th on the Tour and offering a key alternative for progress.
“I believe the next step is to really get my return game stronger,” he stated. “I think on the return I need to have a different mindset, a mindset to make the opponent play more and I need to, like the top players, make a lot of balls in play. I believe I can do it.”
Maxime Cressy lifts his first ATP Tour title in Newport. Photo credit score: Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour
It all got here collectively for the American final July in Newport, the place he gained his first ATP Tour title behind a trio of three-set wins in opposition to Steve Johnson, John Isner and Alexander Bublik. He defeated Bublik in a third-set tie-break to make his trophy breakthrough in his third tour-level closing; only one month earlier, he misplaced a final-set tie-break to Taylor Fritz within the Eastbourne championship match.
“It was definitely a very nerve-wracking experience,” he stated of the Newport closing, “especially in the third set where I kept thinking all along about the trophy and about the two missed finals.”
First-Time Winner Spotlight: Maxime Cressy
The title was a testomony to Cressy’s enhancing recreation and mentality, and likewise served as the most recent instance of the facility of visualisation for the American.
“Newport was the first title I had in mind, from a long time ago, from two, three years ago,” he revealed. “I kept thinking to myself it would be so nice and special if Newport was my first title because it was the first ATP [event] I ever played… I’m glad I was able to get that title.”
Pressure is a continuing a part of life on the Tour, and it was ever-present for Cressy in his difficult run on the ATP 250. He copes with that stress by referring to phrases he writes in his journal, with one specifically standing out: “Instill doubt,” a directive that retains him focussed on the current and reminds him to take the match to his opponent.
“I put my faith in that phrase, and it has never let me down,” he defined. “I just keep repeating to myself this sentence so that I don’t get my mind distracted by other things. I know in a tennis match there’s a lot of variables that can distract you. Those two words are a key for me.”
There isn’t any doubting Cressy’s perception that he belongs on the very prime of the sport. After first breaking into the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in January 2022, the American is aiming far increased in 2023.
Source web site: www.atptour.com
