Maxime Cressy Bio
Maxime Cressy is a French-American professional tennis player known for his powerful serve-and-volley style. Born on 8 May 1997 in Paris, France, he played collegiate tennis at UCLA, winning the NCAA doubles championship in 2019. Turning professional the same year, Cressy reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 31 in 2022 and captured one ATP Tour singles title. He has also achieved a top doubles ranking of No. 64 in 2023.
Standing 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) tall, Cressy plays right-handed with a two-handed backhand and is recognized as one of the most distinctive serve-and-volley practitioners on the modern ATP Tour. He represented France until 2018 before switching allegiance to the United States.
Early Life and Background
Maxime Cressy was born the youngest of three boys in Paris to a French father, Gérard, and an American mother, Leslie. His mother is a former university volleyball player at the University of Southern California and helped her team win two NCAA championships. Cressy has two brothers, and the family spent his early years in France before eventually relocating so he could pursue advanced tennis training.
From 2009 to 2013, Cressy trained at the Centre de ressources, d’expertise et de performance sportives de Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in Saint-Raphaël, on the French Riviera, one of the most prominent training centers for tennis players in France. In 2014, he moved to the United States, where he joined a Californian academy. While training abroad, he completed his schoolwork at home through the French National Centre for Distance Education (CNED), earning a French Baccalauréat.
He made his junior debut in 2016 and won the Tallahassee Futures in December 2018. The following week he began representing the United States in international competition, formalizing his dual-national identity on the tennis circuit.
Path to Professional Tennis
Cressy’s progression through the ranks combined French developmental coaching with American collegiate competition. After moving to California, he enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), joining one of the strongest NCAA tennis programs in the country. On 25 May 2019, Cressy and Keegan Smith won the 2019 NCAA tennis doubles championship, a result that announced his arrival on the broader tennis scene.
Following the NCAA title, Cressy turned professional later in 2019. He began accumulating ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures results while building his serve-and-volley craft, which became his on-court signature. The leap from the collegiate circuit to professional tennis was supported by coaches Juanjo Climent, Alexandre Sidorenko, and Andrew Mawire, who helped refine his attacking game.
Maxime Cressy Career
Early Career (2019–2020)
Cressy made his Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2020 US Open as a wildcard entrant, where he reached the second round after defeating Jozef Kovalík. He lost in the second round to fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, but the appearance confirmed his readiness for the top level of the sport.
In the same period, he began compiling results on the ATP Challenger Tour, including one singles title and three runner-up finishes, while continuing to develop his serve-and-volley identity. These early professional seasons established the foundation for his rapid rise in 2021 and 2022.
2021: Top 150 Debut
Cressy qualified for the 2021 Australian Open and reached the second round by defeating Taro Daniel before falling to sixth seed Alexander Zverev. He then qualified at the 2021 US Open and produced one of the matches of the year, winning a five-set thriller with a fifth-set tiebreak against ninth seed Pablo Carreño Busta. Cressy came back from two sets to love down, saving four match points along the way.
At the 2021 BNP Paribas Open, he defeated Laslo Djere before falling to 11th seed Diego Schwartzman despite serving for the match. He reached the final at the 2021 Challenger Eckental, where he lost to Germany’s Daniel Masur. These results pushed him to a career-high ranking of world No. 128 on 8 November 2021, his first appearance inside the top 150.
2022: First ATP Title, Major Fourth Round, Top 35
Cressy opened 2022 at the Melbourne Summer Set 1, where he saved two match points to beat world No. 26 Reilly Opelka and reached his first ATP Tour final. He lost that final to top seed Rafael Nadal but climbed to a career-high No. 70 in January 2022.
At the 2022 Australian Open, Cressy defeated compatriot John Isner in five sets with three tiebreaks and advanced to the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time. He ultimately fell to second seed Daniil Medvedev but reached No. 59 in the rankings. Later, at the Eastbourne International, he reached his second ATP final after upsetting world No. 12 Cameron Norrie, and at Wimbledon he defeated world No. 9 Félix Auger-Aliassime for his first top-10 win. Cressy won his maiden ATP Tour title at the 2022 Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island, beating third seed Alexander Bublik in the final after coming back from a set and a break down. The title lifted him to a career-high No. 33 in July 2022, and he finished the season at No. 31.
2023–2024: Doubles Title and Decline
Cressy began 2023 by reaching his fourth ATP singles final at the Open Sud de France, where he upset world No. 9 Holger Rune before losing to Jannik Sinner. In doubles at the 2023 Dubai Championships, he won his first ATP doubles title and first on the 500-level, partnering with Fabrice Martin. The result propelled his doubles ranking 45 spots into the top 75.
His singles form, however, eroded through persistent lower back pain. He lost multiple first-round matches across the clay and grass seasons and dropped out of the top 100 in singles by mid-2024. In September 2023, he won the Open de Rennes, his first Challenger title in two years. By July 2024, his ranking had fallen to No. 186, and he struggled to record ATP main-draw wins through 2024.
Driving Style and Strengths
Cressy is a big server who plays a predominantly serve-and-volley style in his service games. His second serve is nearly as fast as, and sometimes faster than, his first serve, and he supports his serving with an aggressive return of serve. While he possesses a strong forehand and backhand, his most dangerous tennis arrives when he is chipping-and-charging and volleying.
Notable Events and Milestones
His signature moment remains the 2021 US Open comeback from two sets down against Pablo Carreño Busta, saving four match points in the process. He added a maiden ATP singles title in Newport in 2022, a first top-10 win at Wimbledon over Félix Auger-Aliassime, and an ATP 500 doubles title in Dubai in 2023. His career-high singles ranking of No. 31 came on 8 August 2022.
Maxime Cressy Career Wins
Across his professional career, Cressy has won one ATP Tour singles title and one ATP Tour doubles title, complemented by one ATP Challenger singles title and multiple Challenger doubles titles. He has also captured one ITF Futures title and reached numerous finals across tour levels, with verified prize money of US$ 2,898,405.
ATP Tour Highlights
Cressy’s lone ATP singles title came at the 2022 Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island, where he defeated second seed John Isner en route to the final and rallied past third seed Alexander Bublik for the trophy. His most recent ATP singles final was a runner-up finish at the 2023 Open Sud de France, where he lost to Jannik Sinner. On the doubles side, he won the 2023 Dubai Championships with Fabrice Martin, his first ATP 500-level title.
Other Wins and Performances
Beyond the ATP Tour, Cressy won the 2019 NCAA doubles championship at UCLA with Keegan Smith and claimed the 2023 Open de Rennes on the ATP Challenger Tour. He also won the Tallahassee Futures in December 2018 and reached one additional Challenger singles final.
| Series | Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATP Tour Singles | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| ATP Tour Doubles | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| NCAA Doubles | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Maxime Cressy Family
Family Background and Tennis Lineage
Cressy was raised in a sports-oriented household. His French father, Gérard, and his American mother, Leslie, supported his early athletic development in Paris before the family helped him relocate to the United States to access elite training opportunities. His mother’s own background as a former NCAA champion volleyball player at the University of Southern California instilled a competitive foundation across the family.
Personal Life
Cressy resides in Hermosa Beach, California, and maintains dual French-American ties through his family. He has spoken openly about managing severe lower back pain since 2023, an issue that has shaped the later stages of his professional career.
2025 Season Performance
Cressy’s 2025 campaign was severely limited by ongoing lower back problems. Ranked No. 681, he had not won an ATP main-draw match since June 2024, and his results across the early-season events failed to spark a recovery in form or ranking.
On 30 July 2025, after months without meaningful breakthroughs, Cressy announced that he had decided to step away from the Tour due to severe lower back pain that had hampered him since 2023. The decision marked a pause in his professional career with his future return contingent on recovery and rehabilitation.
Looking ahead, the immediate outlook centers on health rather than competition. Cressy’s path back to the ATP Tour will depend on resolving his back injury, regaining match fitness, and rebuilding his ranking from outside the top 600.