Competition Results

May 24, 2009

NCAA Division I Tennis Championships
Men’s Singles Draw
May 25, 2009
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas 

Finals

Devin Britton (Mississippi) def. (9-16) Steven Moneke (Ohio State), 3-6, 6-2, 6-3

Notes

Devin Britton, ranked No. 30 nationally in the Campbell/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, captured the University of Mississippi’s third-ever NCAA individual championship title in men’s tennis next to 1995 NCAA doubles champions Mahesh Bhupahti and Ali Hamadeh. A native of Jackson, Mississippi, the 18-year-old Britton becomes the first American-born player to win the NCAA singles title since Alex Kim of Stanford in 2000. He is also the first freshman since 19-year-old Cecil Mamiit of USC to win the national title in 1996 and first non-seeded player since Luke Smith of UNLV in 1997. He is the youngest of the three all-time freshmen to win the singles title which includes 19-year-old John McEnroe of Stanford in 1978. Britton defeated three seeded players en route to his national title run and ended Steven Moneke’s 22-match winning streak. Both players were their respectively program’s first-ever NCAA singles championship finalists.

Quotes

Devin Britton (Mississippi):

“It is a pretty awesome feeling (to win the national championship). It’s great for Mississippi tennis. It was just an unbelievable tournament. I couldn’t be happier. My ground strokes weren’t really going anywhere in the first set. I didn’t make him play that much. I served well in the beginning, but towards the last few services in the set, I started missing a lot of first serves. When I missed the first serve, I knew I was in trouble. He returns very well. I wasn’t winning by much when I was hitting second serves. I definitely picked up my serve in the second and third sets and was able to attack his second serve, similar to yesterday. I got a rhythm going on the serve. On the ground strokes, I just took a deep breathe after the first set and tried to figure out a way to make him work to hold serve. Eventually, I started to hit some better forehands. I started mixing up the slice a little bit. I just got better and better as the match went on. After I lost the first set, I said to myself, ‘keep fighting and hopefully, I can make the match go to a third set.’ I learned a lot from that. I definitely surprised myself and didn’t see this coming. I just took it one match at a time. I didn’t have a lot of mental lapses and I think that helped out a lot today.”

Head Coach Billy Chadwick (Mississippi):

“Devin has shown that he can play with the best. The reason he won the championship today is because he didn’t have a lapse, because if he did, then (Ohio State’s) Steven Moneke wins. Even when he lost the first set, he didn’t lose his determination and he didn’t lose his focus. That’s what you saw the whole week from him. The most impressive thing with Devin is that he has really come in and had an outstanding freshman year. What you don’t really see is how he has made a difference with this team. He has really shown maturity past 17 years of age when he first joined us in January. I am extremely proud to have a player as talented as he is on our team, but also such a nice person who has been a joy to coach this spring. To me, the difference in the match was that Steven did an outstanding job of mixing his serve up. It took Devin a set and a half before he could figure out exactly what he was going to do with it. It is very much like a pitcher in baseball. He is mixing it up, throwing spin on the first serve, hitting some big first serves and changing it up everywhere. It was really hard to get a rhythm on it. Steven’s good serving was the reason that Devin was kept at bay. But, once Devin cracked the code and started getting some more looks at second serves, that’s what changed the course of the match. It (the national championship) is great for Devin and especially for the Jackson (Mississippi) area where he is from. He has the entire Mississippi tennis community excited. You are going to see a trickle down effect in years to come, because of Devin’s success. You are going to have more people playing and more kids whose goals have moved up higher. This is going to be a great thing for tennis in the state of Mississippi.”

Steven Moneke (Ohio State):

“I didn’t return that well today. Usually it is my strength and I didn’t make enough returns. I had so many chances at two-all in the second and three break chances in the third set again at two-all. I just played too defensive today and I was just hoping that he would miss. You can’t play too defensive in a tennis match. He went for his shots, I didn’t, and that was the difference. It’s always my strategy to make my opponent hit more balls, but at the end of the day, you have to play aggressive to win a tennis match. Players are too good at this level to wait for them to make mistakes. Especially at one-all in the third. It was 15-40,  he had a second serve and I had a good return. Instead of hitting the ball, I pushed it into the court and he went for his shot. That’s why he held. He is a dangerous player, because he won’t let you get into a rhythm and he goes for his shots. You never get into any rhythm and you always have pressure to hold serve. I’m very disappointed right now, because I had so many chances in the second set and several break chances in the third set. I should have played more aggressive today.”