I have a lot of information to give to give you all since I haven't had access to the internet in the last week, and the week before I was too frustrated to even consider posting.  It wasn't a great week.  I am going to start with it anyways.  We can go ahead and get the bad news out of the way first.  It was the dreaded Irvine, CA future.  I lost first round of singles 6-2 1-6 6-4.  That's all I am going to say about it.  It was ugly and I don't want to go back to that dark day in my tennis life.  I am living in the present.  I'm not dwelling on the past.  I mean I can't sit here and think about how poorly I played.  It's in the past you know.  It's all good now.  Those kinds of things don't stick with you.  It is easy to get over a loss.  I'm cool (computers smashes into the wall). I am kidding.  I didn't really smash my computer.  I may have wanted to at the time though.  The good news is that Austin Krajicek (USA) and I won the doubles title there.  That definitely helped to ease the pain.  Doubles always has my back, and I love it for that. 

     The following week was in Sacramento, CA for the 100k challenger event.  I lost in the last round of qualifying to Greg Jones (AUS) 4-6 6-3 6-3.  I had a couple of chances to break early in the second set and didn't take advantage.  Unfortunately if you don't take your opportunities when they are there, they rarely show themselves again.  That is the name of the game though.  Doubles was a different story.  I teamed up with Austin Krajicek again and we had a pretty good run.  We ended up losing in the finals after having four match points 4-6 6-4 12-10 in the super tiebreaker.  Three of which were on our serve.  I think if you give us that same scenario a hundred times we maybe lose the match .05 times.  I think of it like a horse pill made of cardboard.  That's a tough pill to swallow if you know what I mean.  It just wasn't meant to be that day I guess.  It still boosted the doubles ranking a few spots so overall it was a positive tournament.  Tennis is awesome, but it can be a cruel beast every now and again.  You just have to deal with it.  

     I am currently in Austin, TX playing a futures event.  I have the honor of getting to stay with my sister Katie this week since she lives here.  My mother also made the trip from Mississippi so there is a whole gang.  It should be good times and great oldies all week.  I am teaming up with Austin again this week in doubles.  We won our first round today 6-3 6-4.  My first round of singles is tomorrow second after 10:00am so I am ready to get it going.  Second round of doubles is also tomorrow not before 3:00pm. 

     Anyways, this is my catch-up post.  I will post again tomorrow, Friday, and once on the weekend.  I plan on bringing some good news to the table this week so be on your toes.  I am tired of having to let you guys know about losses.  So it's time to turn it around.  I am looking forward to finishing off the year strong. 

     In other news I reached a career high doubles ranking of 145 on Monday.  I am pretty proud of it considering I haven't really focused on playing doubles.  So there is some positive news.  I like it when the numbers go in the right direction.  Well that is all I have for now.  Thanks for following my career, and I appreciate any comments or feedback on the website or my life. 

All the best,

Devin Britton

     It has been a pretty good couple of days here in Sacramento.  I won my second round of singles on Thursday against Denis Lajola (USA) 6-2 6-2.  I played a pretty solid match overall.  It was a big improvement from the level of tennis in the first round so I was pretty happy with that.  Today, in the quarterfinals, I went up against Philip Bester (CAN) who is a friend of mine.  We trained and roomed together at IMG academies in Bradenton, FL from when I was fourteen to roughly seventeen and a half.  Needless to say we are pretty familiar with each other's game and have played in the past a couple of times.  I lost to him both times that we previously played but in pretty close matches.  It was a strange match overall.  It was just a couple of points here and there to decide each set.  I was lucky enough to come up big on a couple of points in the third set to take the match 6-4 2-6 6-3.  I will face Nicolas Meister (USA) in the semifinals tomorrow at 1:00PM.  The only time we have played was 7-6 in the third (barely squeezed it out) so I look forward to a tough battle.  

     Thursday's doubles match was not a pretty showing by any means but Jordan Cox and I were lucky to squeeze it out in the third set tiebreaker 2-6 6-0 10-7.  Today we went up against Phillip Simmonds (USA) and Vahid Mirzadeh (USA) in the semifinals of doubles.  They played pretty well and came up big on the deciding points when they needed to.  So they took us down 6-4 6-3.  The no-ad scoring system in doubles frustrates me like crazy.  I just want to let that be known to the world. 

     Besides all the tennis action it has been a pretty good time here in Sacramento.  The weather has been off the charts for the most part.  It is roughly eighty to ninety degrees every day with a slight breeze and no humidity.  I couldn't ask for it much better.  Our housing people took us out on the boat today as well.  There was a little bit of tubing involved along with some wakeboarding as well.  I had a pretty good time watching Greg Ouellette wakeboard for second.  There is nothing like watching a former Florida gator crash and burn.  No offense to any gator fans out there.  There always has to be some SEC trash talk involved.  You know how it is.  Jordan Cox also made a few attempts at wakeboarding but was unsuccessful.  I have faith that he will work out the kinks and get up one of these next couple of days though.  Perseverance is key in the wakeboarding game. 

     I would also like to give a shout-out to the king himself, Lebron James.  Without his dominant performance in game six last night, I am not sure I would have been able to get through my singles match today.  When Lebron steps up, I step up.  That is just the way it is.  Watching his 45-point performance last night was the most pumped I have been in my entire life to date.  That is a fact.  The guy was as coldblooded as I have ever seen in my life.  I was watching a little bit of the replay tonight just to reminisce on how unreal it actually was.  He is a machine and a hero.  End of story. 

     Anyways it has been real as usual.  That is all of the information I have for you today.  I hope that you all enjoyed the blog.  I will post again either tomorrow or Sunday.  Thanks for reading along.  Be blessed. 

All the best,

DB

     Well I started the week off right with a couple of wins on Tuesday.  I won my first round of singles 6-3 7-6(9-7) to keep the dream alive.  It was a pretty up and down match, but I was lucky to squeeze it out in the end.  I am going up against Denis Lajola of the USA in the second round action tomorrow morning at 10:00AM.  Doubles was pretty shaky for the most part, but we were lucky to find a way through 3-6 6-2 10-3.  We will be playing second round of doubles tomorrow as well not before 3:00PM.  I am looking forward to stepping the level of play up from the first day. 

     One of the strange things about this tournament is that they use two different types of courts for the same event.  This is pretty much the only tournament of the year that I have seen this happen.  One of the surfaces is a standard hard court that is green with red (below).  The other is a soft hard court that is green with blue (below).  When you step on it you can literally feel the cushion on the court.  It is sort of spongy like the surface they use to use for the Australian Open.  It is definitely not something you see a whole lot of in the USA.  The two surfaces play completely differently so hopefully they will keep me on one side for the entire event.  Unfortunately they are both pretty slow, but the blue side is the slower of the two without a doubt.  I have only had to play on the red side so far and am scheduled for red again tomorrow so that is good news.  I have heard quite a few guys complaining about the difference in courts.  It is what it is though.  I am happy with it so far.

     I had a day off today from matches.  I got some good practice in this morning and then it was off to the races.  The lake was calling my name (below - I was in the water before the awesome sunset obviously.  I will get an action shot during the day sometime this week though don't worry).  The water was a little cold, but the overall experience was pretty great.  I attempted my first ever front-flip into the water, but just about when I thought I had it my face broke my fall.  It wasn't the most pleasant experience of all time but an experience nonetheless.  I backed it up with a little bit of basketball action in the driveway to dry off.  It was pretty much my ideal off day.  I couldn't have asked for a better one.  Not to mention the steaks the housing cooked for dinner.  These things were absurdly good.  I almost didn't want to finish it because I was sad to see it go, but my taste buds reassured me that it was worth it.  I don't mean to rub it in, but I felt like I needed to express it to you guys. 

     Anyways, it is time for me to get some snooze in.  I appreciate you stopping in for a quick read.  I hope that your day was equally as good as mine and that there are plenty more to come.  I will give you guys an update again on Friday.  Hopefully I will have more good news to report.  Be blessed.

All the best,

DB

     It is finally tournament time again.  I have had a couple weeks of good preparation so I am ready to try and do some damage here in Sacramento, CA.  I open up tomorrow at 10:00AM against Eric James Johnson of the USA.  I have not heard much about him so I am not really sure what to expect, but I look forward to getting after it.  I am playing doubles with my brosef Jordan Cox this week.  We play our first match tomorrow not before 1:00PM.  So I will play my singles match.  Then grab a quick bite for lunch.  Then get straight on my doubles grind.  It is that simple.  There is no time for shenanigans tomorrow (big word right? patting myself on the back as we speak).  I am looking forward to a good days work. 

     I am really blessed to have an awesome housing setup this week.  I housed with the same family last year and they are a great crew.  I wasn't about to let some other jokers from the tournament get this place.  So I called dibs on them about a month before the tournament.  I am basically coming into the tournament feeling like I have already won.  Jordan Cox and Greg Ouellette are staying in the house as well so I should have some pretty good updates throughout the week on the going-ons here. 

     The housing has a small lake in the back of the house with a trampoline tube.  This tube wasn't around last year so it was the first thing I noticed when we pulled in.  I said, "Is that a trampoline in the water?" but what I really meant was, "Is this going to be the greatest week of my life?"  Needless to say, after all our practices were finished up on Sunday, we jumped.   And we jumped hard.  I wish I could describe the awesomeness levels in words, but to be frank, it just isn't possible.  There were plenty of diving catches being made into the water.  There were also plenty of failed attempts, which were way more entertaining.  I will have to post some pictures of the lake on Wednesday.  It is a thing of beauty.  You are going to like what you see.  I guarantee it.

     On a more serious note, I look forward to keeping you guys posted on everything this week.  I always try my best to bring my A+ blog game during tournament time.  Stay alert and ready because I am bringing the heat this week.  It is going to be a fun one.  I will hopefully have some good news for you guys on the Wednesday post.  I am off to get some much-needed rest for match time tomorrow.  I hope you all have spectacular weeks.  Thanks for stopping in. 

All the best,

D-Train

     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