Devin Britton (born March 17, 1991) is an American professional

tennis player Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

. He is a native of

Brandon, Mississippi Brandon is a city in and the county seat of Rankin County, Mississippi, United States. It was incorporated on December 19, 1831. The population was 25,138 as of the 2020 census. A suburb of Jackson, Brandon is part of the Jackson Metropolitan ...

. He is currently an assistant coach for the Ole Miss Rebels men's tennis team.

Tennis career

Juniors

Britton's most notable ITF junior tournament win was in June 2008, when he captured the International Grass Courts Championships.The Daily Mississippian: Britton playing beyond years
/ref> Also, in the summer of 2008 at the U.S. Open Junior Championships, he advanced to the finals match – making him the first ever qualifying wildcard to make a final where he lost to

Grigor Dimitrov Grigor Dimitrov Dimitrov (, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, making him the highest-ranked Bulgari ...

. As a junior Britton compiled a singles win–loss record of 54–36 (and 92–29 in doubles), reaching as high as No. 13 in the junior world combined rankings in July 2009. Junior Slam results – Singles: Australian Open: -
French Open: 1R (

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

)
Wimbledon: SF (

)
US Open: F (

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

) Junior Slam results – Doubles: Australian Open: -
French Open: 3R (

)
Wimbledon: QF (

)
US Open: QF (

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

)

College

NCAA Men's Singles Title

Britton, at the age of 18, won the 2009 NCAA Men's Tennis singles championship as a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

. He is the first

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

men's tennis player to ever win an NCAA men's singles championship. Britton defeated Moritz Baumann of Wisconsin in the first round then beat

Dominic Inglot Dominic Inglot ( ; born 6 March 1986) is a British former professional tennis player and a Davis Cup champion. A doubles specialist; he made the final of twenty seven ATP World Tour events, winning fourteen, including the Citi Open and Swiss ...

of Virginia in the second round. In the third round, Britton sent Rice senior Bruno Rosa out of the tournament in straight sets, and then he beat Stanford’s Alex Clayton in the quarterfinals. To advance to the NCAA championship match, he defeated Blake Strode of Arkansas with a straight set win. To win the championship, Britton defeated Ohio State senior Steven Moneke,OleMissSports.com: Devin Britton Wins NCAA Singles National Championship
/ref> making him the first American-born player to win the NCAA singles title since Alex Kim of Stanford in 2000.The Clarion-Ledger: UM freshman Britton wins NCAA tennis title
/ref> The championship win also makes him the first freshman since 19-year-old Cecil Mamiit of USC in 1996 and the first non-seeded player since Luke Smith of UNLV in 1997. He is the youngest of the three freshmen to win the singles title, including

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

, who was 19 when he won it for Stanford in 1978 – making him the youngest player ever to win the national championship.

Leaving college

After only one semester in college, Britton announced on July 1, 2009, that he would not return to Mississippi but would instead turn professional and had already signed a contract with a sports agency, Octagon Worldwide.The Clarion-Ledger: Tennis star Britton leaving Ole Miss
/ref> He received a wildcard into the 2009 U.S. Open where he played #1 seeded and ranked

Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...

in the opening round. Federer won the match in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, 7-5.

Awards

* Britton was named the Southeast Region Rookie of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. * Britton is a two-time SEC Player of the Week for the 2008–2009 season. * Britton earned All-SEC second team honors and made the SEC All-Freshman Team for the 2008–2009 season.

ATP career finals

Doubles: 3 (2–1)

Personal life

Britton began playing tennis when he was 4 years old. Britton was home-schooled starting in the seventh grade. Because he was traveling extensively for tennis, he completed his high school education through the Alpha Omega Online Academy. Devin’s parents are Scott and Cindy Britton. He is the youngest of three children. He has two older sisters, Tara Chez and Katie. Devin trained at the

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a University-preparatory school, preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. The organization is set across over 600 acres (243 ha) and features programs consisting of sport ca ...

/ Bollettieri Tennis Academy in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a pri ...

where he was coached by

Nick Bollettieri Nicholas James Bollettieri (July 31, 1931 – December 4, 2022) was an American tennis coach. He pioneered the concept of a tennis boarding school, and helped develop many leading tennis players during the past decades, including Andre Agassi, J ...

, David Amye and Gabe Jaramillo. At Ole Miss, he was coached by Billy Chadwick. His serve and volley style is rare among modern players.

References

External links

*
2008 U.S. Open interview
* *
Devin Britton
at TennisRecruiting.net as a Junior player {{DEFAULTSORT:Britton, Devin 1991 births Living people American male tennis players Ole Miss Rebels men's tennis players Ole Miss Rebels men's tennis coaches Sportspeople from Brandon, Mississippi Tennis players from Mississippi American tennis coaches 21st-century American sportsmen