Bryan Brothers Reach 100 Career Titles

November 13, 2014 | By Andrew Eichenholz
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Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

Romanian Davis Cup heroes Ion Tiriac and Ilie Nastase ruled the tennis world, reaching the finals in 1969, 1971 and 1972. What does that have to do with the best doubles tandem to ever step onto a tennis court?

Tiriac and Nastase, 39 and 32 years older than twins Bob & Mike Bryan, respectively, created a drill that would later help mold the winningest tennis players to team together in history. Most tennis warm ups consist of isolating the swing of the racquet to get used to feeling the ball off of the strings and over the net to the other side of the court. A good chunk of players do that in the form of mini tennis, but the Romanian Davis Cup drill is different.

Hopping around on the identical spot of the service line on opposite sides of the net has two players in a diagonal line. Once the duo starts to move in opposite directions, it is hard to keep track, but the Bryan Brothers have made a drill famous that has helped them to the throne of men’s doubles.

As one brother sidesteps in one direction, the other does the same in the opposite, forcing them to not only react to pinging volleys coming as fast as a serve and a return, but to place the ball on a dime in the other direction. It is this drill, which Bob & Mike have done under the watchful eye of their father Wayne Bryan over the years, that has given them the incredible hand-eye coordination, which has carried them to history.

The number 100. In school it is associated with perfection, in many aspects of the world it has a positive connotation. The Bryan Brothers redefined a number that has been known for greatness at this year’s U.S. Open.

Playing the talented team of Marc Lopez & Marcel Granollers, Bob hit an inside out forehand that was not returned. Just like they have done 99 times before, the twins walked towards each other, and launched themselves in the air for their trademark chest bump. With their routine 6-3, 6-4 victory, the Bryans had done it. They became the first doubles team to win 100 titles together.

With their next active challenger at the age of 42 and 85 titles to his name, it is not very likely that anybody will touch their record any time soon, if ever. Who is third on the active list? A 41-year-old with 53 championships. The bottom line is, the Bryan Brothers are truly special.

It all started in 2001, at a small tour stop in Memphis, Tenn. Fresh out of college, where Bob & Mike led the Stanford Cardinals to back-to-back NCAA team championships, and Bob won the triple crown of a singles and doubles title on top of the team victory, the twins had a difficult draw.

In their first match of the tournament, they came across a team including Goran Ivanisevic, who would go on to win the Wimbledon singles title just months later. Tommy Haas, who would get all the way to number two in the world with his widely feared one-handed backhand would come later on. It was not a cakewalk, yet as they would gain notoriety for throughout their career, the Bryans came through under pressure with flying colors.

Perhaps it was the pressure that made Bob & Mike as special as they have been in the sport of men’s doubles. The Bryan Brothers have thrived when they had to win a match. Nothing is more challenging than putting on the colors of your country to represent millions against the rest of the world. In the 26 matches that the Bryans have worn the stars and striped of the United States for Davis Cup competition, they have performed impeccably. Chest bumps abound, 22 times to be exact, the tandem have lost only four times. Two of those have been extended five setters, with the other losses against some of the most skilled doubles tacticians to grace the court. To think that against the best competition in the world, a team could win 85 percent of their matches, when the record for winning percentage in all of tennis is just over 80 percent is unbelievable.

By the way, both twins are married, and Bob has two children. Yet, they are playing the sport as well as they ever have. By the end of the year, the Bryan Brothers will have ended eight of the last 10 seasons with the title of being the best players in the world, owning the number one ranking, including an Olympic Gold Medal in 2012. If that does not show consistency of greatness, keep an eye out.

Bob & Mike Bryan are not going anywhere any time soon.


Andrew Eichenholz
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