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Bob and Mike Bryan pose with their trophy after winning the ATP World Tour Doubles Final
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By Matthew Cronin, special to USTA.com
The Bryan twins have pulled dozens of rabbits out of their matching caps over the years, but perhaps none as plump and juicy as they snared in London last week, when for the fifth time, they ended the year as the world's top doubles team by winning the ATP Tour Doubles Finals at the O2 Arena.
The boys came into the tournament down over 800 points behind the No. 1 team of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, the same veteran duo that had taken them down in a winner-take-all final for the year-end No. 1 last year in Shanghai.
Watching the Camarillo, Calif., brothers the whole week was a crew from the renowned TV show "60 Minutes," with the insightful anchor Lesley Stahl closely paying attention to the Bryans’ remarkable synergy.
But the pressure of having a leading news show gazing at them didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Even though they opened the round-robin competition with a humdrum defeat to the on-rushing Max Mirnyi and steady Andy Ram, the brothers coolly responded every other time out.
The hard-serving twins first got over on the French and US Open champions Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes, 6-3, 6-4. But then they faced a tall task – winning their next match in straight sets, or they would be out of the competition. They did so, crunching Lucasz Kubot and Oliver Marach, 6-3, 6-4.
In the semis, they had to face one of their top rival teams, the well-established and intelligent duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles. The Bryans came through, 6-4, 6-4.
In the final, they had to face Mirnyi and Ram again, a team that had beaten them on three successive occasions and seemed to have their number. But Bob was essentially unbreakable, Mike returned beautifully, and they climbed all over the net in a 7-6, 6-3 victory.
Mission accomplished, as the top spot was theirs.
"It means so much," said Bob. "It's pretty much what we play for now. That's the goal. Play well in the Slams, but the ultimate goal is to finish No. 1. We felt like it was stolen from us last year. Now we kind of crept up on those guys and stole it from them this year. It was a trying year. We had a lot of disappointments. We had times in the year where we played unreal. But we had a lot of times almost in tears in the locker room after some big disappointments. Luckily we stayed solid. Even in those dark, dark hours, we were making finals, making semis. We were kind of trudging ahead, staying in contention."
The Bryans have been making waves since 1998, when they came out of Stanford as NCAA champions, but this year, the 31-year-olds became a new-fangled flavor for the non-tennis press, receiving lengthy profiles in The New York Times Magazine and the New Yorker, among other places. Not only are they interesting because the close identical twins lend themselves as interesting character studies but because they are smart, polite and opinionated.
On court, they have been wildly successful, winning seven titles in 2009 to run their overall count to 56 overall, which leaves them just five behind all-time leaders Todd Woodbridge-Mark Woodforde (the "Woodies"), who own 61. The Woodies are currently on the Hall of Fame ballot, and after they retire, the Bryans are almost sure to follow them. Next year, given good health, the U.S. Davis Cup heroes have a good chance to tie the Australians and possibly break the record.
"It's in our sights now," Bob said. "To be even considered in the same sentence with the Woodies makes us proud. Those guys are our idols. I assume if we stay healthy, it's gonna happen someday. Definitely want to honor those guys. That's the standard of doubles. Those guys were the best players ever."
The U.S. has had some great doubles teams in the past, including New York's John McEnroe and New Jersey's Peter Fleming, as well as Pasadena's Stan Smith and Pennsylvania's Bob Lutz, two cohesive duos that won multiple Slam crowns.
But the Bryans have to be put right up there with them for their consistency, for their incredible play in Davis Cup (they have the most doubles wins as a team in U.S. Davis Cup history, owning a 16-2 record), and for the fact that they've won majors on all four surfaces. In 2009, the Bryans captured their second Australian Open crown. They also won the 2005 and 2008 US Opens, 2006 Wimbledon and 2003 Roland Garros. They are men of all seasons who are adaptable on all surfaces.
"I definitely think we are improving," said the lefty Bob. "I think we have a coach [David Macpherson] that's as good as anyone in the world. Maybe the best doubles coach in the world. He works incredibly hard studying doubles, watching every team. He has a notebook this thick with ideas. Mike's serve has improved in the last three years a lot. My returns the last two matches were the best I returned in awhile. For that to happen in big moments shows confidence in our games, and the holes are closing up."
Even if that's the case, 2009 wasn't all roses. The twins lost a number of close matches during the year, five of which Bob called "ridiculous." That's why their clutch play in London was so satisfying – because they were able to climb out of the valley and reach the peak again.
"We were up 9-4 in the third-set breaker in the finals of Cincinnati against Nestor and Zimonjic, who were competing for No. 1," Mike recalled. "That was a harbinger. We had eight or nine match points. We had five match points in the semis of the French. Lost 7-6 in the third, US Open semis. To come full circle, do it in the last tournament with so much riding on this one match, I mean, it's huge. We're going to be talking about this match for the rest of our lives. There's nothing sweeter than this."