Maxime Cressy says top players like Novak Djokovic ‘scared to go to the net’ as he champions serve and volley revival

Maxime Cressy has said that the top players in men’s tennis are “scared to go to the net” as he continues to champion a serve and volley revival. Having given eventual runner-up Daniil Medvedev a tough time at the Australian Open last month, the French-American won plenty of new admirers with his aggressive service game and willingness to play at close quarters.

Ad/> Medvedev managed to triumph 6-2 7-6 6-7 7-5, but not before becoming so frustrated that he started complaining loudly about his opponent being “lucky” and “so boring”. TennisHow Medvedev can knock Djokovic off the world No 1 spot this month2 HOURS AGO Addressing Medvedev’s comments in an interview with the Palm Beach Post, Cressy suggested that he has no intention of changing his approach and feels that, on the contrary, the top players are too conservative in looking to dominate from the baseline.

“It’s obviously a much more gruelling sport when you play from the baseline, but I think it’s also because most players are scared to go to the net and there’s many opportunities in every rally to come in, but no one comes in,” he said. “That’s why they’re stuck in those 30-to-40 stroke rallies.

That’s why they stay back, and they win all their matches because they’re better than all of those guys at the baseline. “I believe there needs to be a new way of winning for people to start seeing tennis as more exciting and thrilling… the paradox is Medvedev calling my game boring, even though most people actually love to see that style come back.” While serve and volley is considered retro by many and hasn’t been widely employed as a tactic since the turn of the millennium – with slower courts, improved racquet technology and better returners among the theoretical