I know I have been MIA for the past couple months.  I apologize for the lack of postings.  I am back and ready to get this thing going though.  I hope that you guys can find it in your hearts to forgive me for my laziness.  I won't let you down this go round. 

     I am currently in Bradenton, FL training at the famous IMG Academies (aerial view below).  It is a pretty unbelievable facility.  It covers about 450 acres and caters to tennis, baseball, basketball, golf, soccer, and football.  It is also a pretty nice perk to be about ten minutes from the beach.  I will be here for a couple more days, and then I am off to California for four weeks of tournaments.  The end of the year is going to be a pretty busy one.  Everyone is trying to get one last push of ATP points before January rolls around again.  I have no points to defend for the rest of the year, so I am looking forward to finishing off strong.  It is a good opportunity for me to put up some results.  I plan on taking full advantage of it. 

     As far as tennis goes I don't have too much exciting to report at the moment.  There are a couple of things I am excited about though.  The New Orleans Saints season opener against the Redskins is getting me amped already.  My Ole Miss Rebels are 1-0 in football and going up against UTEP on Saturday.  I couldn't be more stoked about that whole scenario.  Football season is just a better time of year.  I have had withdrawals for the past couple of months just waiting for it to roll around.  Not to mention fantasy football.  I love me some fantasy football.  I am in three leagues this year, but the most important one has to be my family league.  There is too much pride on the line.  We even have a custom made trophy for the winner (pictured below).  I dream to one day have that bad boy sitting on my mantle.  The moral of the story is football season is a thing of beauty. Never forget that. 

     That's about all I have for you today.  I am excited to get back into the rhythm of blogging and keeping you all up to date on everything.  I will have the Tour section of the website up to speed by tomorrow.  I post again sometime on Sunday.  I am also looking into getting an instagram for more photo updates.  Anyways, good stuff all around.  I look forward to our next meeting.  Thanks for reading along.

All the best,

Devin

     I apologize for the blog slacking going on this week.  I have not been on my blogging grind.  I admit it.  I have however been on my training grind though.  I am working as hard as possible and looking forward to the upcoming tournaments.  I will be leaving for Winnetka, IL on Friday morning to get ready for the challenger event.  Which will be followed by three weeks of World Team Tennis.  I will be playing for the Springfield, MO Lasers.  I am pretty pumped to see what WTT is all about.  I have heard it is pretty awesome.  Time will tell though.  You can check the schedule here to see if you can make it to any of the matches. 

     On a different note, tropical storm Debby has been doing work down here for the past couple of days.  I haven't seen the sun in a quick minute (that is a long time in awesome people lingo).  It has literally rained for two days straight and is supposed to continue for another two days.  There have been winds up to sixty MPH and tornado warnings for the better part of today.  It isn't exactly ideal for hitting tennis balls.  Luckily we have a few indoor courts to work with.  We can usually get on for at least an hour at some point in the worst case scenario.  Needless to say, Debby is a real jerk.  That pretty much sums up that topic. 

     That is about all of the updates I have for you guys.  I do want to leave you with a little inspiration though (pictured below).  If I ever feel like I am in need of a little boost, I go to that beauty of a picture.  I can't help but get a little bit emotional sometimes.  One time I looked at it for a little too long and tackled the guy next to me out of sheer adrenaline (that didn't actually happen, but the thought did cross my mind a few times).  I just can't help but get jacked up about Ole Miss athletics, and football season is starting just around the bend.  I could talk about that all day long.  I don't want to scare you guys off though.  I love The University of Mississippi.  It is just a part of me.  I can't hide it.  It feels good to get that off my chest. 

     Anyways, it is about time for me to get some rest.  Thanks again for reading along.  I hope to have a productive week of practice before tournament time.  I will keep you guys posted.  Don't hesitate to comment and check out the other links on the site.  Be blessed.

All the best,

DB

     It has been a busy last few days here in Bradenton aka B-town, Florida.  The weekend festivities were extremely tiring.  Brad Cox came into town for his birthday so we had plenty of activities planned.  I had a really solid practice with Jordan Cox on Friday morning followed by a brutally awesome fitness session.  Then we headed to the links to meet up with Brad and Mr. Cox to get a nice round of golf in.  The teams were pretty fair for the most part.  It was Brad (solid) and I (terrible) versus Mr. Cox (solid) and Jordan (terrible).  It was a battle down to the wire.  The seventeenth hole came around and we were all square.  I hit two drives into the water, which wasn't even on the same hole.  So I decided to watch Brad play this one.  He came up huge with a roughly twenty-foot putt to put us up one and virtually seal the victory.  Shooter McGavin immitations were thrown around for a second followed by a small chest bump to finish.  This win was a real confidence booster for me I have to admit it.

     The Saturday morning hit was a good one.  I was moving like a gazelle and felt like I couldn't miss.  It must have been all the confidence I gained from the golf.  I don't know what it was, but it was a good way to end a tough week of practice.  I did a little bit of movement drills in after practice to work on the quickness and then I called it a day.  Just afterwards I headed over to the beach to get a little rest and relaxation in.  Let me just tell you now that if you are looking for rest and relaxation, the beach is not the right place to be.  On top of the sun draining me of all that it could, I spent most of my time in the water making diving football catches.  Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining.  I had a great time.  I just needed a solid twelve-hour nap afterwards to balance it all out. 

     Sunday is normally the day to take off when you are in a training block.  So it was more of a relaxed day.  I went to church with the fellow 2009 NCAA champion Mallory Cecil (Duke) and her family followed by a really good brunch.  It was great to get to catch up with them.  After that it was back to the Cox household to get some good pool time and have a cookout for Brads last night in town.  It was a pretty delicious spread.  We had some sausages, burgers, chicken, and lamb chops to chow down on.  I am pretty sure I put down at least five pounds worth.  Somehow I weigh less today than I did yesterday.  Just another one of the upsides to being an athlete I guess.

     I hope that you all have had as good of a Memorial Day weekend as I have. A special thanks goes out to all the servicemen and veterans.   Thank you guys and girls for all that you do for this great country!  Happy Memorial Day to all of you. 

     Anyways that is the full weekend update.  I apologize for the blog delay.  I will stay on it from here on out.  I booked my flight for Saturday to Sacramento, CA.  So there will be more tournament blog action starting next week.  Also I want to say congratulations to Steve Johnson (USC) and Nicole Gibbs (Stanford) on their NCAA singles titles today.  They are two great peeps and very deserving winners.  I want to also say congratulations to my fellow rebels and brothers Christoph and Marcel Thiemann (Ole Miss) for making the final four in doubles.  A great way to finish up two great college careers.  Hotty Toddy boys. 

All the best,

Devin Britton

     It was a productive day here in Bradenton, FL.  I had a good few hours of hitting in, and also had a solid gym session.  It was a good upper body workout today in the gym since yesterday there was a lot of legwork being done.  I am definitely feeling the burn a little bit tonight, but I can guarantee the weights I was throwing around are feeling it worse than me.  I was throwing them around like rag dolls.  They may or may not have been five-pound weights but that is beside the point.  I am looking forward to getting back to it tomorrow morning at 9:00am.  Also there is a beach workout on the schedule for tomorrow afternoon so be ready for some cramping stories on Friday. 

     Outside of the work side of things, I had a playstation challenge from my friend Mark Verryth (AUS) in NBA2k12.  Playstation is something that I play pretty rarely.  So I don't excel in many games, but this game is a different story.  I also have a hard time saying no to competition so it was on like Donkey Kong.  I don't want to brag too much, but this was a blow out.  I should probably make a public apology to Mark for the embarrassment.  That is just not happening though.  I took him to the house with a ten-point victory.  Can't stop, won't stop. 

     I also had a nice Chipotle burrito bowl for dinner.  I couldn't have asked for much more.  Burrito places are a big part of my life.  I am in a constant battle of deciding whether I like Qdoba or Chipotle more.  Qdoba brings the queso into the picture that is incredible, but Chipotle's guacamole is ten times better.  It is like a ongoing game of tug-of-war in my mind/heart.  One day there will be a deciding factor that pulls me to one side.  I am just waiting patiently for that day. 

     Overall a pretty awesome day I have to admit.  I will have more to report from the training diaries on Friday.  I hope that you all had a blessed day. 

All the best,

D Britt

     I apologize for the delay on the posting.  After the past four weeks of tournaments I needed a couple of days to relax and recover.  So I figured what better way to do that than to head up to Athens, GA to see some NCAA tennis and catch up with some old friends that I haven't seen in a while.  It was my first ever time to Athens, GA.  I have heard a lot of good things, but I wasn't sure what to expect since I have a pretty high bar set having played at THE University of Mississippi.  That's right.  An all capital lettered THE.  I will leave my feeling for Ole Miss at that for now because I could go on for days about it.  Needless to say I was a little bit skeptical about the whole UGA deal.  I have to say it definitely impressed me on the tennis side of things.  The atmosphere was awesome.  I really enjoyed watching some of the matches and just walking around the facility.  I think it is a pretty good spot for the NCAA tournament.  There aren't a lot of places in the country that can compete with it.  Overall I would have to give UGA an A grade.  I really enjoyed myself as well as everyone that I talked to.  I reserve A+'s for schools located in Oxford, MS.  That is just the way it has to be.  

     I am now back in Bradenton, FL and ready to battle grind myself into the ground before the next set of tournaments.  Jordan Cox and I went for a Rocky workout today to try and get going again after the couple days off.  My legs are pretty much out of service at this point in time.  Most tennis players really struggle with days off.  If I take two days off I come back and feel pretty slow for about two days.  That is just the way it works.  Rhythm and things like that take a little time to get back as well.  Then again off days are necessary to give your body the needed recovery time.  So it is sort of an art of when to take days off and when to push through.  When I was really young I always refused to take days off.  My parents tried to get me to rest every once in a while, but I wouldn't have any of it.  I have learned to appreciate them though.  Off days are pretty rare in professional tennis after all. 

     I will be here in Bradenton until next Saturday/Sunday.  Then I head to Sacramento, CA followed by Chico, CA for a couple of 15k future events.  I will be training hard and watching the NBA playoffs for the next week and a half.  I plan on reporting plenty of good news on the Miami Heat.  Lebron James is and always will be my favorite basketball player.  Game five of the series vs. the Pacers is tonight so I plan on getting pretty pumped up.  The Lebron James jersey is already locked and loaded.  Can you feel the electricity in the air right now?  I know I can. 

     Anyways, my picture taking abilities have been sub-par I know.  I plan on having a good selection for my post tomorrow so be ready.  I am off to get some much-needed food so I will catch you all tomorrow.  Stay classy. 

All the best,

Devin Britton