AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 18, 2023

Maxime Cressy

Press Conference

M. CRESSY/A. Ramos-Vinolas

7-6, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, everyone, for joining our press conference today with Maxime Cressy. Congratulations on your win today. How are you feeling coming off the court?

MAXIME CRESSY: Very good. It was very difficult. I had to go through a lot of transitioning with the weather and weather conditions yesterday and today. I thought I managed myself mentally very well, and I prepared I think to the best of my ability for today, and I was very successful today. Yeah, very happy.

THE MODERATOR: I'll open to the floor.

Q. You and Mackey have a UCLA thing going here?

MAXIME CRESSY: Marcos too.

Q. That's right.

MAXIME CRESSY: Yeah, yeah.

Q. Is that a special bond that realizes itself in the locker room?

MAXIME CRESSY: We were actually roommates. No, definitely good friends off the court. Very happy for him for the win. No, it's great to have a Bruins, UCLA teammate, a former UCLA teammate here. Marcos was actually my volunteer assistant coach back then, so we were on the team together the same year.

Then eventually Mackey left, but we were one year together, and we were roommates. Yeah, really good bond.

Q. You had a good bit of success here last year. Is there anything special or particular about here, these hard courts?

MAXIME CRESSY: When I played last year it was right after my successful challenger tourney in November and December, so I had a lot of confidence coming in here last year with a lot of matches under my belt.

I had only two weeks between my last challenger in December and Australian Open. So I guess I just carried that confidence over to the Australian tourney. It got me to top 100 and close to top 50 to play here.

Definitely very special place, and very good for my game, my serve-and-volley game.

Q. Is that because of the speed of the courts?

MAXIME CRESSY: I think most courts now are really fast, honestly. I think it's mostly that I was in a good mental -- I was in a very good mind frame last year, and I'm coming back into that great mindset this year. So I think, no, I can do great damage, yeah.

Q. We're, of course, very interested in the upcoming match against Holger Rune. I believe he has beaten you twice before. What do you plan to do differently to change that?

MAXIME CRESSY: I actually played him under very slow conditions on clay and indoor. It was very slow. It was very difficult for me, and I think it's very different conditions when I play him here.

No, he is a terrific player. He has beat me twice. But the past doesn't define the future. So, no, I'm excited for the encounter, yeah.

Q. I mean, how do you think your play style, your serve-volley, matches up against his style of playing more whole court maybe?

MAXIME CRESSY: I prepare the same way against every opponent. I focus on myself, and I think if I hit my spots really well and I stick to good firm volley, I think it's good work against everyone. So I don't really focus on my opponent. I focus on myself.

I think it's been very successful when I've been very confident. So I just keep on doing the successful formula, yeah.

Q. How do you fall in love with the serve-and-volley game because it is a bit strange to see you play as from the '70s and '80s? How is it you fell in love with that?

MAXIME CRESSY: I watched a lot of tapes of Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter. And my brother was a huge Sampras fan. He wanted me to play like that from a very young age. At first I had some resistance, but eventually at 13, 14 I listened to my brother, and I started doing it.

No, felt incredible to do it, and I just kept doing it over and over again even though at first it wasn't very successful because it's very difficult to master, but I was persistent. I carried the faith that it would eventually work, and I'm glad that I stuck with it, yeah.

Q. Among the Americans Frances and Taylor and Tommy are kind of like the Three Musketeers. Do you associate with them or hang out with them, practice with them?

MAXIME CRESSY: Not necessarily, no. I mean, I mostly practice in France and Paris. But, no, I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know them more. It was my first year on the tour last year, so I had just seen them for the first time last year.

No, looking forward to eventually play Davis Cup with them and, yeah, share some special memories, yeah.

Q. Your ascent on the ATP rankings has been very quick during the last couple of years. I was wondering do you have any specific targets for this season?

MAXIME CRESSY: I set a lot of goals last year. I think top 10 is my main goal. It was my goal last year.

But I think now I'm transitioning more to a mindset to focus on what I can control and then eventually my goals would happen. I don't know when, but now I just focus on the present and getting my game to the maximum potential.

So, obviously, every year it's to get to the top 10, top 5 and more, and I'll do whatever is possible to make it, yeah.

Q. What are your long-term goals?

MAXIME CRESSY: To win, obviously. Everyone wants to win Grand Slam titles and Masters events and eventually to get to No. 1, Alcaraz's spot. Hopefully inspire a lot of players to serve and volley again. That's one of my visions. Yeah, working really, really hard to make it happen, yeah.