Top Spin Blog » Devin Britton

Young Americans A Long, Long Way from Wimbledon

Joe Samuel Starnes — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:25:09 +0000

Last year, two American juniors bound for the pro circuit — Devin Britton and Jordan Cox — played an epic three-set semifinal in the boys singles. Cox, then 17, won 6-3, 6-7 (5), 16-14, the final set lasting 83 minutes (which in the pre-Isner/Mahut days seemed liked a long time). Cox lost in the finals (pictured with the runner-up plate here), and soon after both he and Britton, then 18 and fresh off an NCAA singles championship, turned pro. Britton wrote a blog from Wimbledon for the USTA , and later in the summer received a U.S. Open wild card bid and played Federer in the first round.

As of today, Cox is ranked 597 in the world and Britton is 1119. Britton, who last played a tournament in Indonesia in June, has won $6,622 in prize money this year. Cox played a series of tournaments in South Africa in May (losing three first round matches in a row) before heading to a tournament Japan in June. His take for the year is $3,396.

The common wiseass sports talk radio caller might poke fun at them, but these dudes are working hard and chasing ranking points all over the globe. The talent in men’s tennis is deep, and making it to the Grand Slams is a hard row to hoe. Good luck out there, fellas, and hope to see you in Wimbledon some year soon.

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Britton Falls to Federer In Three in U.S. Open First Round

Joe Samuel Starnes — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:38:49 +0000

Devin Britton had a few chances, but couldn’t capitalize. If he watches the replay, will hear John McEnroe bemoaning his failure to attack the net on every point. Here is a link to a good story about the match by Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press, but if you want some really entertaining reading, check out Britton’s blog from this year’s Wimbledon where he finished in the semifinal in the juniors.

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Former College Standouts Isner and Devvarman Shine on Monday

Joe Samuel Starnes — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:27:12 +0000

Reigning NCAA champion from Ole Miss Devin Britton played the big match in the spotlight on Monday, losing in three to Roger Federer on the Ashe Court, but it was former two-time champ Somdev Devvarman and one-time runner up John Isner who came through with the big wins.

Isner, a former University of Georgia star ranked 55 in the world and rising, held off an amazing 10 set points in his three-set win over the 28 seed, Victor Hanescu of Romania. Isner next plays a Turkish qualifier, Marsel Ilhan, ranked 231 in the world.

Devvarman is a native of India who despite winning the NCCA men’s singles in 2007 (beating Isner in the final) and again in 2008 was snubbed by the USTA and did not get a wild card bid to the U.S. Open in either year as Britton did this year. Devvarman came into the tournament this year ranked 162 and had to win three matches in the qualies last week to make the main draw. On Monday he won handily, besting 106-ranked Fredirico Gil of Portugal in straight sets. Devvarman’s next match is against No. 23 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. I’m pulling for him to go a few more rounds, maybe even farther, and show the NCAA that he deserved wild card bids the past two years, the omission of which was an insult to college tennis.

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U.S. Open Schedule Posted, Federer-Britton Not Prime-Time

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:38:10 +0000

Launching a campaign for your sixth straight U.S. Open to tie Bill Tilden’s epic record apparently does not merit a prime-time match. Roger Federer and Devin Britton will play the second match of the day on Arthur Ashe on Monday, meaning I’ll have to get out a video tape to record it and much of America will miss Federer and the young Mississippian who is this year’s promising junior. The night men’s match instead is Andy Roddick and Bjorn Phau. I’m disappointed it’s not Federer-Britton in prime time. Check out here for the daily U.S. Open schedules, and here for scores during the day.

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The U.S. Open Draw is Up, and Devin Britton Plays a Dude Named Federer

Joe Samuel Starnes — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:20:20 +0000

If you need any proof that the USTA doesn’t fix the draw for promising Americans who get wild cards, 18-year-old Devin Britton of Mississippi, the youngest NCCA champ ever, ended up in line two of the draw. He plays that dude who was on the cover of this month’s Tennis magazine, poised like an angel in designer tennis clothes with a personally monogrammed belt flying up into heaven above the caption “The greatest of all time.” At least all of America will get to see Britton’s serve and volley game in prime time. Here is hoping for the greatest upset of all time, but I ain’t going to bet money on it.

Fellow American Scoville Jenkins of Atlanta — who has won his first two qualies matches and can win his way into the tournament today with a victory against the No. 1 seed in the qualies – can relate to Britton. He’s had a history of brutal first-round draws in the main bracket at Flushing Meadows, and has drawn Federer and Roddick in opening matches in the past, and played Nadal a tough four-setter in the second round in 2005. Jenkins, who turns 23 in September, is now ranked 256 in the world, and the highest he has been is 187. (UPDATE: Jenkins would still surely trade places with Britton — he lost to Thomaz Belluci of Brazil 2 and 4, falling one win short of making the main draw.)

Scoville Jenkins

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Wild Cards and Qualifyings: Filling Out the U.S. Open Men’s Draw

Joe Samuel Starnes — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:41:39 +0000

If you are one of the rare men’s tennis fans who care about those outside of the Big Four and believe that tennis is about more than selling Rolex watches, the weeks leading up to the first round of the U.S. Open hold serious intrigue. For the first time in about seven years, the NCAA college champion has received a wild card entry into the U.S Open. (The USTA recently has snubbed foreign-born NCAA champions, including two-time chap Somdev Devvarman of the University of Virginia.)

This year, the 2009 NCAA singles champion Devin Britton of the University of Mississippi is in, as are Taylor Dent, Jesse Levine and the Kalamazoo champion and others. I’m hoping that the USTA will let Britton blog about the experience, as he did in Wimbledon. He critiqued London movie theater concessions, raving about the candy selection with this line: “Solid effort from the English.” I can’t wait to hear what he has to say about New York. For a great piece about him, check out Peter Bodo’s profile, Rod Laver Don’t Fish. Britton is the next great hope to bring back the serve-and-volley game. I’m happy to see a fellow southerner charging the net, and hope he goes deep.

Jordan Cox got a late entry into the qualies on Monday and will have to win his way into main draw. Cox, who turned both 17 and professional this summer, beat Britton in their epic semifinal 16-14 third set in Wimbledon.

The USTA also announced qualies wild card in last week’s press release: “Players receiving US Open qualifying wild cards are: Lester Cook (25, Sherman Oaks, Calif.), 2008 US Open boys’ singles champion Grigor Dimitrov (18, Bulgaria), Alexander Domijan (17, Wesley Chapel, Fla.), Ryan Harrison (17, Bradenton, Fla.), Scoville Jenkins (turns 23 on Sunday, Atlanta), 2009 USTA Boys’ 18s runner-up Ryan Lipman (18, Nashville, Tenn.), Tim Smyczek (21, Milwaukee, Wis.), Blake Strode (22, St. Louis) and Michael Venus (21, Orlando, Fla.). Strode and Venus are both members of the 2009 USTA Summer Collegiate Team.”

The qualifying tournament starts on Tuesday. If you are within striking distance of New York and can get to Flushing Meadows, it is very much worth checking out. You’ll see world class tennis for free, and won’t have to wait in the obscene U.S. Open lines. Here’s the blurb from the tournament, and check back on this link for the draw, which was not up yet as of Sunday night: “If you can’t wait for the US Open to begin, you can get a head start on the action by coming out for the US Open Qualifying Tournament-one of the largest tennis tournaments in the U.S.-with $1million in prize money. It’s held free to the public from Tuesday, August 25, to Friday, August 28, and consists of 128 men and 128 women competing for the final 32 entries (16 men and 16 women) in the 2009 US Open singles draws. Check back soon for qualifying scores and results.”

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A Junior Tennis Blog Not to Miss

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:26:11 +0000

You are missing out if you don’t read Devin Britton’s blog on the USTA site. I’m quoting my favorite parts at length from it below, but you should visit it yourself.

We (Jordan Cox and I) had a good dinner at the Pizza Express tonight, and I think he is ready for a solid performance tomorrow… (Cox has split sets in the boys final, follow the score here).

So a couple of nights ago after I wrote my last blog, all I could hear were screams in the hall and outside, so I went to check what was going down. I was pretty close to getting hit in the face with a water balloon. Needless to say, it was a water balloon fight going on inside the hotel halls. Basically, moral of the story is this hotel is boring, so you gotta be creative in order to have a little fun, even if it means walking a mile to the store to get some water balloons and throwing them at innocent people poking their heads out of their rooms… haha. The life of a junior tennis player.

Also went to see “Transformers 2″ tonight with J Cox, B-rad Cox, Bob van b and Michael Sell. I gotta say it was a solid movie. I have to give the English theatres some credit because there is a wall of all different types of candy there, and you can grab a bag and just fill it up with whatever you want. It’s like heaven. I just loaded the bag to the max limit. Also, they have a Ben & Jerry’s and the usual stand where you get drinks and popcorn. They mean business over here. Solid effort from the English.

Devin Britton Ole Miss photo:

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