Blitzed by Federer, Rookie Soaks It In

NEW YORK -- You're 18 years old and new to all of this. You're playing in the biggest tennis stadium in the world in arguably the biggest tournament in the world. And your opponent?

Roger Federer, maybe the greatest player in the world. Of all time. And then you go up a break in the second set.

How did Devin Britton handle that Monday in the first round of the U.S. Open? Did he actually think that maybe he could do this?

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"Yeah, I thought that for, you know, 10, 15 seconds," he said Monday, after losing to Federer 6-1, 6-3, 7-5. "Before he broke me at love the next game. I think I lost 13, 14 straight points after that ...

"You know, it was fun for the 10, 15 seconds. It was probably the best seconds of my life."

Britton, who won the NCAA singles championship this year as a freshman at University of Mississippi, turned pro this summer. He was in way, way over his head Monday, but put up such a fight -- the 1,364 ranked player against No. 1 -- that he had a moment as a cult hero with the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Afterward, his wide-eyed honesty, unlike anything you ever hear from experienced players, told everything about what it's like for a kid suddenly finding himself on the mountaintop. Was he overwhelmed walking out there?

"Yeah," he said. "It's just 100 times bigger than anything I've ever played in front of.

"It was pretty much all I'm thinking about on the changeovers: 'You know, this is pretty cool.' I was sitting out here on Ashe, and playing against Federer. This is awesome."

Federer laughed when he heard that, saying that it's always that way for young players coming up. Federer said he remembered the shock years ago of suddenly finding himself on the court at Wimbledon with Pete Sampras.

Federer won that match, by the way.

But back to Britton. Was there a danger of spending your time thinking about Federer's game and not your own?

"I didn't really start thinking about my own game until late in the second set," he said. "You know, it's such a pretty game [Federer's]. It's fun to watch."

Pretty in what way?

"His forehand is just crazy. I tried to keep it away, but sometimes I just hit it there just to see it."

Britton is 6-foot-3, and a serve-and-volleyer, a style that has nearly disappeared from the game. Will he make it big?

No way of knowing. But he has the size, the serve, the power and maybe even the groundstrokes that looked like they could go somewhere. But at this point, he's just starting. He was given a wild card, a free pass, into the Open, as someone the United States Tennis Association feels might have a future.

He talked about last week, when his agent called to say he had drawn Federer in the first round.

"I didn't really believe it at first," he said. "Thought it was just a bad joke. And then I started getting texts on my phone, and I realized it was true.

"I was excited at first, and then a little bit, just a little bummed."

It was a thrilling, fun and also humbling first experience, all rolled into one, he said. On Saturday, Rafael Nadal was asking around for someone to practice with, "so I just kind of jumped in and said, 'I'll hit,' " Britton said.

That's right. Over 48 hours, he hit with Nadal and played Federer. What did he learn? That he needs to get stronger, he said. And when it was over, Federer shook his hand and said, "Good luck with the career."

Now, we'll have to wait for where the best 15 seconds in his life takes him.

Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com