17:16
Djokovic-Cressy 4-3
Cressy fends off this and another breakball, but Djokovic has now increased the quality of his returns enormously and immediately secures the next chance. Cressy needs over the second, serves at full risk smashing through the middle and also parries the third breakball.
17:13
Djokovic-Cressy 4-3
Cressy also tries the Hawkeye afterwards, but he has no luck with it because Djokovic’s passing ball still scratched the line. This is how it goes about the debut and one of the few volley errors by the American leads to the first breakball of the game.
17:10
Djokovic-Cressy 4-3
But Cressy is also extremely dominant on serve and leaves little chance for his opponent. Djokovic tries a challenge and is actually successful. Cressy’s serve was up and instead of winning the game, there is a second serve. It then goes online and it’s only 40:30.
17:07
Djokovic-Cressy 4-3
The picture remains the same: Novak Djokovic doesn’t even have problems in his service games and rushes through again without losing a point. Of course, that increases the pressure on Maxime Cressy, who has to keep catching up and knows that a break would probably mean losing the set.
17:04
Djokovic-Cressy 3-3
This is how Maxime Cressy imagines his service games. The US boy now hits every first serve and if that doesn’t already bring the point, he then puts in a safe volley. After 40: 0 Djokovic grabs another point, then Cressy’s sixth ace seals the 3: 3.
17:00
Djokovic-Cressy 3-2
Maxime Cressy is actually considered a player who also likes to be aggressive on the return. So far, the two-meter man has not gotten a chance from the Djoker. Djokovic serves incredibly placed and is then always on the trigger. Cressy can book his first return point in the match this time, but nothing more.
16:56
Djokovic 2-2 Cressy
In the second service game, Cressy looks a lot more confident. The 25-year-old consistently follows every serve and pushes away the first two volleys to win a point directly. Another ace with the second means 40:15 and a good reaction of Cressy at the net against a Djoker’s attempt to praise makes it 2:2.
16:52
Djokovic 2-1 Cressy
Meanwhile, nothing works for the challenger on the return. Novak Djokovic serves very solidly, always gets into the better position and races quickly to three balls again, then the Serb unpacks his first ace and makes it 2-1.
16:51
Djokovic 1-1 Cressy
After ten minutes it’s done. An ace and a service winner bring the visibly relieved Maxime Cressy the first game win.
16:49
Djokovic 1-0 Cressy
Cressy takes full risk with the second serve and constantly serves over 200 km/h. This initially resulted in the fact that he missed his first two game balls with two more double faults. Things are going better on the debut side and the next service winner creates another chance.
16:46
Djokovic 1-0 Cressy
Maxime Cressy is put to the test right away and gets hit in the face with the first return winner trying to play serve & volley. Djokovic puts everything into his first return game and wants a very quick break. 30:30!
16:44
Djokovic 1-0 Cressy
The fifth point of the game also goes to Djokovic as Cressy starts his first service game with a double fault. The American then lands his first ace with the second serve and scores his first point.
16:42
Djokovic 1-0 Cressy
The Djoker gets off to a good start and is immediately there. It quickly goes to 40:0, then the 35-year-old does a bit of magic and responds to an unfortunate, short return from Cressy with an unreachable counter-stop.
16:40
Djokovic 0-0 Cressy
Novak Djokovic opens the match! The Serb serves placed to the outside and then scores with the forehand from the half field to 15:0.
16:34
Ready to go
To the thunderous applause of the spectators, the two main actors have just entered the court and started hitting the ball. Novak Djokovic won the seat selection and decided to serve. It starts in a few minutes!
16:31
Duel of the systems
This match is already extremely interesting because the two opponents could hardly be more different in their style of play. One of the best servers and most aggressive players of all meets the supposedly best return player in the world, who prefers to stay at the baseline. We can be curious to see who can assert their way of playing more successfully today.
16:20
Cressy brings back serve & volley
Maxime Cressy is also having a great year in 2022. In July, the Paris-born American won his first ATP title in Newport and has now worked his way up to the top 30 in the ranking. The 2.01-meter giant relies on a tactic that, in the eyes of many, had already had its day. Following his idols Pete Sampras and Pat Rafter, Cressy seeks his way to the net at every opportunity, playing serve & volley almost consistently. And apparently you can still be successful with it today. In the last few weeks, however, things have not gone well for Cressy, who has failed at the opening hurdle three times in his past four tournament starts. Here in Paris, however, he got off to a strong start with a 6:3, 6:3 against Diego Schwartzman.
16:17
Djokovic rushes from success to success
Novak Djokovic hasn’t played much lately, but he’s always been successful. The Serb has won all of his last three singles tournaments and hasn’t lost a tournament match on the tour since late May. After his Wimbledon triumph, Djoker recently won the events in Tel Aviv and Astana and only gave up a single set in total. The 35-year-old is already the record champion in Paris and is aiming for his seventh title this year. It would also be a title defense, because last year Djokovic was able to defeat the Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final.
16:15
Warm welcome
Hello and welcome to day two of the ATP Rolex Masters in Paris! The former world number one Novak Djokovic has to deal with the American Maxime Cressy in his opening game on the center court.