AMERICAN TWINS READY TO RULE

Can the Bryan twins dominate the doubles tour?

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc.

The 25-year-old Bryan twins estimate they've played 100 matches a year together since they were six. The reigning Roland Garros champs are beyond instinct with each other and often finish each other's thoughts and sentences.

Even the most veteran of doubles team cross each other up a dozen or so times a year, but the Bryans almost always know which one of them will be covering the ball. Righty Mike says that it's only once or twice a year that both think the other is going to chase down a ball and then they end up staring at each other.

"It's so weird," says Mike.

Bob added, "It's frustrating. We hit balls down the middle on teams all the time and it goes through for a clean winner. When it happens to us, we kind of just, you know … 'What happened there?' You get a little freaked out, because we're usually right there on the same page on where we're going to move."
There was no better way for the Camarillo, Calif.-based twins than to break the Tim and Tom Gullikson's record of most titles by brothers (10) when they won Roland Garros.

"It's the pinnacle of our career," said Mike, who with Bob notched their 12th title in Nottingham, a week before Wimbledon, where they were upset in the quarters. "We've been working since we were two years old, four hours a day, doing doubles drills. Now to come out here and be on this stage is the biggest moment of our lives. To go through it with a twin is unbelievable."

So how close are the brothers? (Up close and personal note: Mike has a mole; Bob wears a wooden necklace.) They share a love of music and are in the same family band. They joke freely about their tussles and brotherly fights. Most times on the road, they share a room, and in the middle of one scorching night in Paris during the French, Mike scrambled out of bed to get a glass of water and, without a second thought, the half-asleep Bob mumbled, "Get me one, too."

From the get-go the duo were nurture by their tennis-happy parents, mother Kathy (a former standout player) and coach, along with author, announcer and all-around enthusiast Wayne. But it took the Bryans four years before they garnered the full respect of their foes on the rough-and-tumble doubles circuit. Since helping lead Stanford to the 1998 NCAA team title, Bob (who won the NCAA Triple Crown of singles, doubles and team) and Mike have made a deliberate climb up the charts. They've been competitive every season, but it took a while for them to blossom.

From cocky to competitive
When they first came on tour, they were considered cocky, erratic and green rookies whose frequent high fives and shouts of encouragement didn't sit well with some grizzled, no-nonsense veterans. They were once literally spit on in Miami by a French team and cursed at the locker room by some American elders. Now the rest of tennis knows that the No. 3 ranked team isn't just a flash in the pan.

"It's nice having the respect," said Mike. "When we came on tour, guys just weren't giving it to us. We'd win … we wouldn't get a congratulations or anything … they thought it was luck. Because we were kind of an up-and-down team. Now they see us going deep almost every week, and now we've beaten everyone numerous times. It's nice to just be one of the boys and one of the top teams in the world."

It wasn't until 2001 that the 6-foot-4-inch brothers developed enough physical strength, savvy and the necessary shotmaking to consistently win on tour. Mike's serve needed work; Bob wasn't crunching his return; neither was passing well enough. Both of them could always volley, but they didn't always stick them in the right places at crunch time. But after they won their first title in Memphis that year, their confidence soared. They won four titles, including Queens, Newport and LA. They also reached their first Slam semis at Wimbledon. Bob says that winning Memphis was a huge relief.

"We couldn't win a title for two and a half years on the tour," he said. "It was getting frustrating. Got the monkey off our back. That was huge. There have been a lot of highs and lows. You got to deal with it all and not get too excited when you win, because you lose pretty much every week."

Last year was their true coming-out party, when they captured five titles and won their first Tennis Masters Series crown in Toronto. They also reached the Wimbledon semis again and reached their first US Open semis. But they couldn't break through in a Slam, which is one of the primary reasons that they weren't selected for Davis Cup.

"Every time we made a [Slam] semi, everyone thought we were going to win it," Bob said. "They came up to us, 'I thought it was yours, guys. Take it."

The twins will give you a well thought-out top-10 list on who has the best strokes on the doubles circuit, but they also have their strengths. They know how to position themselves and have excellent instincts. But bullying their opponents with laser shots is what they do best.

"We hit our shots bigger than most. Our second balls can hurt teams more," Mike said. "We can run around, get forehands and crush them. As a team, we serve better. We're tougher."

Moreover, the Bryans mesh together as smoothly as a cold Pacifico with lime after downing a dozen or so tacos at the Bryan's favorite Mexican deli in Camarillo.

"We run plays out there. Say the ball goes down the middle, I start running forward. Bob knows he's got to hit that ball in the alley, then I'm going to move over. Then he'll switch around and cover me. We've practiced that 100 times."

Bob, who reached the semis in singles of Newport last weekend, added, "We've probably won four or five points on overheads where we both feel each other, where I shade to the alley to cover the overhead, Mike just shades the middle. I don't think two players that have never played together would do that. We cover the holes better than other teams."

AIMING FOR DAVIS CUP
The Bryans want two things out of their careers now: a spot on the US Davis Cup team and to become No. 1. Should they grab the top spot, it will be tough for Davis Cup captain Pat McEnroe to keep them off the team that will travel overseas to face the Slovak Republic on clay in September.

"We've been a dominant team at certain levels," Bob said. "We got to a point where we didn't lose a match the last couple years in juniors. Our last year in college we got dominant. It would be nice to be dominant out here, but I see a lot of tough players. Maybe when those guys retire, we can take over. But we would love to dominate."

This article was orginally publsuhed in Inside Tennis magazine. For subscription info, call 510-530-2200.