Mike And Bob Bryan
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Mike And Bob Bryan
OR:
Mike And Bob Bryan on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The Bryan brothers,
identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...
brothers
Bob Bryan Robert Charles Bryan (born April 29, 1978) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. He has won twenty-three Grand Slam titles: 16 in men's doubles and 7 in mixed doubles. He turned professional in 1998. With his twin ...
and
Mike Bryan Michael Carl Bryan (born April 29, 1978) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. With his twin brother Bob, he was the world's top doubles player for more than nine years, first achieving the top ranking in Septem ...
, are retired American professional doubles tennis players and the most successful duo of all time. They were born on April 29, 1978, with Mike being the elder by two minutes. The Bryans have won multiple Olympic medals, including the gold in 2012 and have won more professional games, matches, tournaments and Grand Slams than any other men's pairing. They held the World No. 1 doubles ranking jointly for 438 weeks (Mike has been ranked Men's Doubles World No. 1 for a total of 506 weeks), which is longer than anyone else in doubles history, and have also enjoyed that World No. 1 ranking together for a record 139 consecutive weeks. They have finished as the ATP year-end number 1 doubles team a record 10 times. Between 2005 and 2006, they set an Open Era record by competing in seven consecutive men's doubles Grand Slam finals. They are also well known for celebrating winning points by chest-bumping each other. Some of their success is attributed to their particular brand of twinship: the Bryans are "
mirror twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...
s", where one is right-handed (Mike) and the other left-handed (Bob). This is advantageous for their court coverage. They were coached by David Macpherson between 2005 and 2016. In January 2017 they reunited with coach Phil Farmer, who previously trained them to their first grand slam title, the French Open men's doubles. In October of 2017, Macpherson and Dr. Dave Marshall Ph. D. assumed coaching duties, with Marshall handling day-to-day responsibilities, until the duo retired. Turning pro in 1998, the brothers retired in August 2020, having played (and won) their final match as a team in March of that year.


Records and achievements

On October 28, 2016, they recorded their all-time record 1000th match win, as a team, by defeating
Pablo Cuevas Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is an inactive Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna. He has won six singles titles and has a career-high singles ranking of ...
and
Viktor Troicki Viktor Troicki ( sr-Cyrl, Виктор Троицки, ; born 10 February 1986) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup, and his second and third ATP singles titles at the 2015 a ...
in the quarter finals of the 2016 Erste Bank Open, in Vienna, Austria. Following their triumph at the
2013 Wimbledon Championships The 2013 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 127th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held ...
, the Bryans became the only doubles pairing in the Open Era to hold all four major titles at once (but not in a single season). They also won Olympic Gold during this period. They are also the only doubles team in history to have won every major title, having won all four Grand Slams, Olympic Gold, every (12 versions of the 9 tournaments) ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title, the ATP World Tour Finals and the Davis Cup during their careers. The two have won a record 119 tour titles, surpassing
The Woodies The Woodies was the nickname given to the tennis doubles pairing of Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, one of the most successful pairings in tennis history. The Woodies combined Woodforde's left-handed baseline play with Woodbr ...
(Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde) who won 61, and have been finalists on 59 other occasions. They have a career "Super Slam" and 16 Grand Slam titles overall, which is more than any men's team in the Open Era. These include victories at the Australian Open (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013), the French Open (2003, 2013), Wimbledon (2006, 2011, 2013), and the US Open (2005, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014). They are the only doubles pairing in history to have completed the "Double Career Grand Slam", having won all four Grand Slam titles at least twice as a team. They won the
ATP World Tour Finals The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results t ...
doubles tournament four times (2003, 2004, 2009 and 2014). They won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They won the 2007 Davis Cup, along with
Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
and James Blake. The brothers were named ATP Team of the Decade for 2000–2009 and for 2010–2019. The twins were part of the United States Davis Cup team, with a 25–5 record in doubles matches, the most wins ever by a USA doubles team. Both brothers have played Davis Cup singles matches (Bob is 4–2 and Mike is 0–1).


Doubles records

*These records were attained in the
Open Era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
of tennis. *Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.


Professional awards

*
ITF World Champion The International Tennis Federation (ITF) designates a World Champion each year based on performances throughout the year, emphasising the Grand Slam tournaments,ITF Constitution, p.26, Rule 2.2(a)(iii) and also considering team events such as the ...
: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 * ATP World Tour Fans' Favorite Team: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Mike with Jack Sock, 2019 * Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year: 2015


Other achievements

* Played in front of the second largest crowd, at an official match, in tennis history (27,200 at the Davis Cup final in
Seville, Spain Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
– December 4, 2004) * Won a record 25 Davis Cup World Group matches for the United States * Davis Cup Commitment Award


Junior career

Bob and Mike won their first doubles tournament at age 6, in a 10-and-under event. They attended Mesa Union School (
Somis, California Somis (; Chumash: ''Śo Mís'') is an unincorporated community in Ventura County, California. It was established in 1892 by Thomas Bard and D.T. Perkins on a portion of the Rancho Las Posas Mexican land grant. Somis is in the Las Posas Valley
) for elementary and junior high school, then
Rio Mesa High School Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
in
Oxnard, California Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west ...
. They had an outstanding junior career, winning well over a hundred junior doubles titles together. They won the 1991
USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...
National Boys' 14 Doubles Championships, the 1992 USTA National Boys' 14 Clay Court doubles title, the 1994 USTA National Boys' 16 Clay Court doubles title, the 1995 USTA National Boys' 18 Clay Courts doubles title, the 1995 USTA National Boys' 18 doubles title, and the first-ever Easter Bowl boys' 18 doubles title. The duo won four consecutive doubles titles at the
Ojai Tennis Tournament The Ojai Tennis Tournament, often shortened to The Ojai, is an annual tennis tournament in Ventura County, California, headquartered at Libbey Park in downtown Ojai, about north of Los Angeles. The event, first held in 1896, is the oldest and l ...
from 1993 to 1996, including twice in the boys' 16s and twice in the CIF Interscholastic division. The brothers won the USTA National Boys' 18 Clay Court Championships again in 1996, becoming the first team in 30 years to repeat as doubles champions at that event. Bob and Mike became the first repeat doubles champions in 50 years at the 1996 USTA National Boys' 18 Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan, defeating Michael Russell and
Kevin Kim Kevin Kim (born July 26, 1978) is an American retired tennis player. Career He entered the top 100 in 2004, reaching a career-high singles ranking of World No. 63 in March 2005. In 1993, Kim won the USTA National Boys' 16 Indoor Doubles Champi ...
in the final. The Bryans then won the 1996 US Open junior boys' doubles title, defeating
Daniele Bracciali Daniele Bracciali (; born 10 January 1978) is an Italian former tennis player, best ranked world no. 21 in doubles. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world no. 49, achieved in May 2006. In doubles, he reached the semifinals of the 2012 Frenc ...
of Italy and Jocelyn Robichaud of Canada 5–7, 6–3, 6–4 in the final. They won the bronze medal in men's doubles at the 1999 Pan American Games held in
Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
, Canada, where they represented the United States for the first time as professionals. Both were awarded full-ride tennis scholarships to Stanford University in fall 1996, and played there through 1998, helping the team to an
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
team title both years. They won the NCAA doubles title in 1998, defeating Kelly Gullet and
Robert Lindstedt Robert Lindstedt (born 19 March 1977) is a Swedish former professional tennis player who specialized in doubles. He turned professional in 1998, and reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in May 2013. Lindstedt won his first Grand ...
of
Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...
in the final, becoming the first brothers to win the NCAA doubles title since Robert and Tom Falkenberg of USC in 1946. They finished the year ranked No. 1 in the collegiate doubles rankings.


Professional career


Early career

The Bryans made their
Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...
debut at the 1995 US Open, where they lost in the first round to
Grant Connell Grant Connell (Pronounced: KAHN-nell) (born November 17, 1965) is a former professional tennis player from Canada, and has been a real estate agent for the past 14 years in Vancouver. He specializes in West Vancouver North Vancouver and Downtow ...
and
Patrick Galbraith Patrick Galbraith (born April 16, 1967) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. Career A doubles specialist, Galbraith reached the World No. 1 doubles ranking in 1993. During his career he won 38 top-level doubles titles. He w ...
. Their first tour win came in 1998, at the ATP
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and won two Challenger tournaments, at
Aptos Aptos (Ohlone for "The People") is an unincorporated town in Santa Cruz County, California. The town is made up of several small villages, which together form Aptos: Aptos Hills-Larkin Valley, Aptos Village, Cabrillo, Seacliff, Rio del Mar, and S ...
and Burbank. In 1999, the twins reached their first ATP final at
Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...
, falling in the finals to
Jim Courier James Spencer "Jim" Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He won four major singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He was the youngest man to reach the singles finals of ...
and
Todd Woodbridge Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM (born 2 April 1971) is an Australian former professional tennis player and current sports broadcaster with the Nine Network. Woodbridge is best known for his successful Doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde (n ...
. They reached the semi-finals at Scottsdale, and the quarter-finals at Indian Wells and
Key Biscayne Key Biscayne ( es, Cayo Vizcaíno, link=no) is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies sou ...
. The brothers were successful on the Challenger Circuit, winning three tournaments (
Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Cou ...
,
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, Burbank), and reaching the finals in four others. The next season saw the brothers win their first match at a Grand Slam when they reached the quarter-finals of the US Open (1st round, beat David Adams and
John-Laffnie de Jager John-Laffnie de Jager (born 17 March 1973) is a South African former tour professional tennis player. A doubles specialist, de Jager reached the semi-finals for three different grand slam tournaments three times in three different years part ...
). They reached three ATP semi-finals ( San Jose, Orlando, Newport), and two other quarter-finals ( Queen's Club, Washington, D.C.). On the Challenger Circuit they won the title at Aptos and were losing finalists at
San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...
, Burbank and
Rancho Mirage Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and locate ...
. The brothers have only played each other in three professionally recognized matches, once each in 1998, 1999, and 2000, playing at U.S.A. F12, Hong Kong, and Armonk, respectively. Mike leads the series 2–1, coming back after losing to Bob in the 1998 match. Each match was played in the Best of Three Sets format, and each was won in straight sets. The ATP classified all three of these matches as "Qualifying, Challenger And Futures Matches," meaning they do not count towards their overall singles records, but the matches were still recorded. Bob won the first match 6–4, 6–3; Mike won the second and third matches 6–4, 6–4, and 6–3, 6–4, respectively.


2001–2002: First titles and Slam semifinals

2001 was the first really successful season for the Bryans as they captured four titles (
Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...
, Queen's Club, Newport, Los Angeles) in five finals (were finalists at Washington losing to
Martin Damm Martin Damm Sr. (born 1 August 1972) is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. He is best known as a doubles player (his highest ranking being No. 5 in the world in April 2007). His highest singles ranking was No. 42 in A ...
and
David Prinosil David Prinosil ( cz, David Přinosil; born 9 March 1973) is a former tennis player from Germany, who turned professional in 1991. Prinosil was born in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, but later moved to Germany. He represented his country at the 1996 ...
). The first ATP doubles title came at Memphis, by defeating
Alex O'Brien Alex O'Brien (born ) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. He gained the top ranking in May 2000 and was ranked as high as world No. 30 in singles in June 1997. He won his only singles title at New Haven, Connecticut, in 199 ...
and Jonathan Stark in the final. They became the first brothers combination to win four titles in a season ( Tim and
Tom Gullikson Tom Gullikson (born September 8, 1951) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player born in La Crosse, Wisconsin and raised in Onalaska, Wisconsin in the United States.Wimbledon and finished the year at No. 7 in the ATP Doubles Race, with a 45–23 match record. The next season saw the Bryans win a career-high five ATP doubles titles, including their first ATP Masters Series title. They won that AMS title at
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, where they beat
Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamian professional tennis coach and former professional tennis player, becoming the former number 1 in world as a specialist in doubles tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in ...
and Daniel Nestor in the final. They won titles at Acapulco, Scottsdale, Newport, and
Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, and were runners-up at
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, Memphis and Washington. They advanced to the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the second straight year. Also, the brothers reached the semi-finals at the US Open (where they lost to
Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...
/
Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...
), Washington, and the Madrid Masters. They finished the season with a 54–19 match record and in third place in the doubles race. The brothers faced each other at the US Open mixed doubles final, with Mike and
Lisa Raymond Lisa Raymond (born August 10, 1973) is an American retired professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. Raymond has eleven Grand Slam titles to her name: six in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. On J ...
defeating Bob and
Katarina Srebotnik Katarina Srebotnik (born 12 March 1981) is a Slovenian retired professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 7 August 2006. On 4 July 2011, she reached No. 1 of the WTA doubles rankings, holding this ...
.


2003–2006: Breakthrough and dominance

2003 was a landmark season for the Bryans. They reached their first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, where they also won their first Grand Slam title, beating
Paul Haarhuis Paul Vincent Nicholas Haarhuis (born 19 February 1966) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 doubles player, having reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 1995. He won six Grand Sl ...
and
Yevgeny Kafelnikov Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...
in the final, and did not drop a set all through the tournament. They won five titles for the second successive year (
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, Roland Garros,
Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
, Cincinnati Masters,
Tennis Masters Cup The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...
). With their win at Roland Garros, the Bryans set the record for most doubles titles by a brothers team, breaking Tim and Tom Gullikson's mark of 10. They reached the finals of three other tournaments, including the US Open, became the first brothers duo to finish number 1 in the ATP race, and closed the season by winning the title at Tennis Masters Cup, Houston. They also made their Davis Cup debut' for the United States in 2003, in the World Group Playoff tie in Slovak Republic, beating
Karol Beck Karol Beck (born 3 April 1982) is a male former tennis player from Slovakia, who turned professional in 2001. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 36, achieved in August 2005. Beck reached the fourth round of the 2004 US Open and the qu ...
/
Dominik Hrbatý Dominik Hrbatý (; born 4 January 1978) is a Slovakian former professional tennis player. Hrbatý reached the semifinals of the 1999 French Open, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in October 2005. Hrbatý is one of onl ...
in straight sets and helping the US to a 3–2 victory. In 2004, they won a career-best seven titles, the victories coming at Adelaide, Memphis, Acapulco, Queen's Club, Los Angeles, Basel and Tennis Masters Cup Houston. They also reached four other finals. They were part of the US Tennis Team at the Athens Olympics in 2004, where they lost in the quarter-finals to eventual gold medalists
Fernando González Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the ...
and
Nicolás Massú Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 2004 ...
of
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. They finished another successful season by winning the Tennis Masters Cup for the second year running. In 2005, the Bryans reached all four Grand Slam finals, and though they lost in the first three (Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon), they won the second Grand Slam of their career at the US Open in front of cheering home fans. They also won tournaments at Scottsdale, Queen's Club and Washington, and made it to the finals at Memphis,
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
TMS and Rome TMS. In 2006, the twins won the first Grand Slam of the season, the 2006 Australian Open, where they beat
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...
of India and
Martin Damm Martin Damm Sr. (born 1 August 1972) is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. He is best known as a doubles player (his highest ranking being No. 5 in the world in April 2007). His highest singles ranking was No. 42 in A ...
of the Czech Republic in the final. They completed the career slam a few months later at Wimbledon, beating
Fabrice Santoro Fabrice Vetea Santoro (born 9 December 1972) is a French retired tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career, and he is ...
and
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
in four sets in the final.


2007: Davis Cup Champions

2007 saw the Bryans win 11 titles. They started losing in the first round of their first tournament, but entered the
2007 Australian Open The 2007 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 15 January until 28 January 2007. The total prize pool was set at exactly A$20 million, with the winners of both the men's and women's singles competi ...
and won it defeating
Jonas Björkman Jonas Lars Björkman (; born 23 March 1972) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 in doubles, and also a former world No. 4 in singles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 T ...
and
Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...
in the final. Björkman and Mirnyi had defeated the Bryans for two years running in the French Open finals. The brothers only lost one set. Their second title of the season came in
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
where the outstanding team beat
Jonathan Erlich Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich ( he, יונתן דאריו "יוני" ארליך, born 5 April 1977) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. During his career, he was mainly a doubles specialist, having won the men's doubles title at the ...
/
Andy Ram Andreas "Andy" Ram ( he, אנדי רם; born April 10, 1980) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. He was primarily a doubles player, and competed in three Olympics. He is the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam ...
. At the
2007 Miami Masters The 2007 Sony Ericsson Open was the 23rd edition of this tennis tournament and was played on outdoor hardcourts. The tournament was part of the ATP Masters Series of the 2007 ATP Tour and was classified as a Tier I event on the 2007 WTA Tour. T ...
, the twins won the Masters Series title, defeating
Martin Damm Martin Damm Sr. (born 1 August 1972) is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. He is best known as a doubles player (his highest ranking being No. 5 in the world in April 2007). His highest singles ranking was No. 42 in A ...
and
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...
. Their fourth title came without a set's loss in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
, defeating
Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamian professional tennis coach and former professional tennis player, becoming the former number 1 in world as a specialist in doubles tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in ...
and Daniel Nestor in the final. The pair won their fifth title on the 2007 ATP Tour and second Masters Series title of the year at the
Monte-Carlo Masters The Monte-Carlo Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, a commune that borders on Monaco. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professiona ...
- they missed Indian Wells. The team defeated
Julien Benneteau Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
and
Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
in the final. At the
Rome Masters The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
, however, the brothers lost to
Fabrice Santoro Fabrice Vetea Santoro (born 9 December 1972) is a French retired tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career, and he is ...
and
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
. It was the first Masters Series match that the Bryans lost in 2007. The
Hamburg Masters The Hamburg European Open (formerly ''German Open Tennis Championships'') is an annual tennis tournament for professional players held in Hamburg, Germany and part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. Before 2021, it was a mal ...
saw the Bryans beat Paul Hanley and
Kevin Ullyett Kevin Ullyett (born 23 May 1972) is a former professional tennis player from Zimbabwe. His primary success on the tour was in men's doubles. Ullyett won 34 doubles titles during his career, including two Grand Slams at the 2001 US Open and t ...
in the final for a sixth title on the 2007 ATP Tour and third Masters Series event of the year. The brothers lost to Lukáš Dlouhý and
Pavel Vízner Pavel Vízner (born 15 July 1970) is a retired professional male tennis player from the Czech Republic. Vízner has reached the French Open final twice, having had turned professional in 1990 and achieved a career high doubles ranking of World ...
at the
2007 French Open The 2007 French Open (Roland Garros) was held in Paris, France from 27 May through to 10 June 2007. Rafael Nadal became the first man to win the tournament 3 times consecutively since Björn Borg, 1978–81; and maintained his unbeaten run at Rol ...
and to Knowles and Nestor at Queen's Club. They lost in the Wimbledon finals to
Arnaud Clément Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Part ...
and
Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...
, but did avenge Dlouhý/Vízner in the quarter-finals and Santoro/Zimonjić in the semi-finals. The seventh title of their season came in Los Angeles when the tandem defeated
Scott Lipsky Scott Lipsky (born August 14, 1981 in Merrick, New York) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. As a player, Lipsky was primarily a doubles specialist. As a junior, Lipsky was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. in singles in 1995, an ...
and David Martin in the final. In Washington, D.C., the team defeated Erlich/Ram in the final. The brothers did not reach the finals in the
2007 Rogers Masters The 2007 Canada Masters (also known as the 2007 Rogers Masters and 2007 Rogers Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 118th edition of the Canada Masters, and was part of the ATP Masters Ser ...
, which is the second time that the Bryans did not reach a 2007 Masters Series final. They lost in the finals of the 2007 Cincinnati Masters to Erlich/Ram and their next event was the 2007 US Open, which the brothers lost in the quarter-finals to
Simon Aspelin Simon Aspelin (; born 11 May 1974) is a former professional tennis doubles player from Sweden who turned professional in 1998. His success mainly came in doubles, winning 12 titles and reaching World No. 7 in March 2008. In men's doubles, Aspel ...
and
Julian Knowle Julian Knowle (born 29 April 1974) is an Austrian former male professional tennis player. Being a born left-hander, Knowle was one of the few on the ATP Tour who played his forehand, backhand, and even volleys double-handed. He was Austria's ...
. Each brother lost in the second round of mixed doubles competition. The brothers' ninth title came at the 2007 Madrid Masters, beating
Mariusz Fyrstenberg Mariusz Stanisław Fyrstenberg (born 8 July 1980) is a retired left-handed Polish tennis player who was a doubles specialist. Fyrstenberg primarily partnered Marcin Matkowski. The pair won the Madrid Open twice, in addition to reaching the fin ...
and
Marcin Matkowski Marcin Matkowski (; born 15 January 1981) is a Polish former professional tennis player whose speciality is in doubles. He played college tennis at UCLA, where Jean-Julien Rojer was one of his teammates. Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg won t ...
in the final. Their tenth title of the season came in
Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, where they beat James Blake and
Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamian professional tennis coach and former professional tennis player, becoming the former number 1 in world as a specialist in doubles tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in ...
. The brothers won their eleventh title in 2007 at the 2007 Paris Masters, defeating second seeds Daniel Nestor and
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
in the final. The Bryans earned the No. 1 spot in the ATP doubles race and thus were entered into the
2007 Tennis Masters Cup The 2007 Tennis Masters Cup was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 38th edition of the year-end singles championships, the 33rd edition of the year-end doubles championships, and was part of the 2007 ATP Tour. I ...
. However, Mike had an elbow injury and could not compete. The brothers won the third rubber in the
2007 Davis Cup The 2007 Davis Cup was the 96th edition of the Davis Cup, a national teams competition in men's tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and 123 took part in different regional groups. The final took place 30 November - 2 December ...
finals, defeating
Igor Andreev Igor Valeryevich Andreev (russian: link=no, И́горь Вале́рьевич Андре́ев, BGN/PCGN: ''Andreyev'', ISO 9: ''Andreev'', ; born 14 July 1983) is a Russian former professional tennis player. He won three ATP Tour singles ti ...
and
Nikolay Davydenko Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko ( rus, Никола́й Влади́мирович Давыде́нко ; born 2 June 1981) is a Ukrainian-born Russian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 i ...
of Russia, thereby clinching the Davis Cup title over the country that was the reigning title holder.
Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
prevailed over
Dmitry Tursunov Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (; born 12 December 1982) is a retired Russian tennis player and current tennis coach. At age 12 he moved to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player. His career-high singl ...
and James Blake defeated
Mikhail Youzhny Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian retired professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Assoc ...
. Bob lost his first Davis Cup singles match in the 4th dead rubber, falling to Andreev; and Blake defeated Tursunov in the 5th dead rubber to end the tie at 4–1. Thus, the United States earned its record 32nd title.


2008

The brothers started their season on the 2008 ATP Tour by entering the 2008 Medibank International in Sydney. They survived a quarter-final match against
Jonathan Erlich Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich ( he, יונתן דאריו "יוני" ארליך, born 5 April 1977) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. During his career, he was mainly a doubles specialist, having won the men's doubles title at the ...
and
Andy Ram Andreas "Andy" Ram ( he, אנדי רם; born April 10, 1980) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. He was primarily a doubles player, and competed in three Olympics. He is the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam ...
and later entered the final, falling to
Richard Gasquet Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
and
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
. The Bryans again made a good appearance at the
2008 Australian Open The 2008 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 96th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 14 thr ...
. The team breezed through their first three rounds before losing to
Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...
and
Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamian professional tennis coach and former professional tennis player, becoming the former number 1 in world as a specialist in doubles tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in ...
. Soon afterwards, the Bryans beat
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
's
Julian Knowle Julian Knowle (born 29 April 1974) is an Austrian former male professional tennis player. Being a born left-hander, Knowle was one of the few on the ATP Tour who played his forehand, backhand, and even volleys double-handed. He was Austria's ...
and
Jürgen Melzer Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a younger brother, Gera ...
in the first round of the
2008 Davis Cup The 2008 Davis Cup was the 97th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and more than one hundred others took part in different regional groups. The first mat ...
. Mike had to retire against Stefan Koubek in singles, while Bob Bryan defeated
Werner Eschauer Werner Eschauer (born 26 April 1974) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. Tennis career In his first 12 years as a pro, Eschauer found little success, winning just 7 ATP-level matches and cracking the top-100 for just a few weeks ...
in three sets for the US to win the tie. The Bryans lost to
Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...
and
Jamie Murray Jamie Robert Murray, (born 13 February 1986) is a Scottish professional tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup win ...
in the
2008 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships The 2008 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 16th edition of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, and was part of the International Series of the ...
final, and to fellow Stanford Alumni
Scott Lipsky Scott Lipsky (born August 14, 1981 in Merrick, New York) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. As a player, Lipsky was primarily a doubles specialist. As a junior, Lipsky was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. in singles in 1995, an ...
and David Martin in the final of the 2008 SAP Open in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
. The Bryans made it to the final of the Tennis Channel Open in
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, producing wins over
Xavier Malisse Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a former Belgian professional tennis player. Born in the north-western Flemish city of Kortrijk and nicknamed ''X-Man'', he is one of only two Belgian men (the other being David Goffin) to have been ranked ...
and
Hugo Armando Hugo Armando (born on May 27, 1978) is an American former professional tour tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each pla ...
,
Chris Guccione Chris Guccione may refer to: * Chris Guccione (tennis) (born 1985), Australian tennis player * Chris Guccione (umpire) Christopher Gene Guccione (born June 24, 1974) is an American umpire in Major League Baseball. He wears number 68. Umpiring ca ...
and
Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
, and
Marcos Baghdatis Marcos Baghdatis ( el, Μάρκος Παγδατής, ar, ماركوس بغداتيس; ; born 17 June 1985) is a Cypriot former professional tennis player. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2006 Wimbledo ...
and Konstantinos Economidis, but went down in the final to
Julien Benneteau Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
and
Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...
. The brothers lost in the quarter-finals of the
2008 Indian Wells Masters The 2008 Indian Wells Masters (also known as the ''Pacific Life Open'' for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 35th edition of the Indian Wells Masters, and was part of the ATP Masters Series of ...
to Mirnyi and Murray once more. The brothers captured their first title of the season at the
2008 Miami Masters The 2008 Miami Masters (also known as the ''Sony Ericsson Open'' for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 24th edition of the Miami Masters, and was part of the ATP Masters Series of the 2008 ATP ...
, beating Bhupathi and Knowles. After this, they lost in their Davis Cup match to
Arnaud Clément Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Part ...
and Llodra. They lost to
Jeff Coetzee Jeff Coetzee (born 25 April 1977) is a South African professional tennis player and competes regularly on the ATP tour, as a doubles specialist. The 5'8" player plays right-handed, double-handed on both sides and has won six ATP Tour doubles t ...
and
Wesley Moodie Wesley Moodie (born 14 February 1979) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa. Career Early life and college career He began to play tennis at an early age and won the South African Junior Masters tournament in February 1996. ...
at the
2008 Monte-Carlo Masters The 2008 Masters Series Monte-Carlo (also known as the ''Masters Series Monte-Carlo presented by ROLEX'' for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 102nd edition of the Monte Carlo Masters, an ...
, however, they then claimed a second title on the 2008 ATP Tour in
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
at the
2008 Torneo Godó 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
, beating
Mariusz Fyrstenberg Mariusz Stanisław Fyrstenberg (born 8 July 1980) is a retired left-handed Polish tennis player who was a doubles specialist. Fyrstenberg primarily partnered Marcin Matkowski. The pair won the Madrid Open twice, in addition to reaching the fin ...
and
Marcin Matkowski Marcin Matkowski (; born 15 January 1981) is a Polish former professional tennis player whose speciality is in doubles. He played college tennis at UCLA, where Jean-Julien Rojer was one of his teammates. Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg won t ...
to win the final. At the Rome Masters, they beat Daniel Nestor and
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
to claim the title. This made the Indian Wells Masters as the only ATP Masters Series to have escaped them. The brothers moved on to the 2008 Hamburg Masters, where they only lost one set before reaching the final. However, Nestor and Zimonjić claimed the title. Then, two weeks later, the brothers entered the
2008 French Open The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 112th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 25 May until 8 J ...
. Their second
Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...
of the year looked to be a strong one, however they fell to
Pablo Cuevas Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is an inactive Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna. He has won six singles titles and has a career-high singles ranking of ...
and
Luis Horna Luis Horna Biscari (; born 14 September 1980, in Lima) is a former tour professional tennis player from Peru, who turned professional in 1998. Known by his nickname "Lucho", he won 2 career singles titles, reached the quarterfinals of the 2004 ...
in the quarter-finals. Again, they lost at the 2008 Queen's Club Championships to Marcelo Melo and André Sá, whom they had beaten in Hamburg. Another Grand Slam setback occurred for them at the
2008 Wimbledon Championships The 2008 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 122nd edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
, when the twins lost in the semi-finals in a tight match against
Jonas Björkman Jonas Lars Björkman (; born 23 March 1972) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 in doubles, and also a former world No. 4 in singles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 T ...
and
Kevin Ullyett Kevin Ullyett (born 23 May 1972) is a former professional tennis player from Zimbabwe. His primary success on the tour was in men's doubles. Ullyett won 34 doubles titles during his career, including two Grand Slams at the 2001 US Open and t ...
. They played opposite each other at the Wimbledon mixed doubles final. Bob and
Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...
defeated Mike and
Katarina Srebotnik Katarina Srebotnik (born 12 March 1981) is a Slovenian retired professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 7 August 2006. On 4 July 2011, she reached No. 1 of the WTA doubles rankings, holding this ...
. The brothers played their way into tournaments, as they reached the final of the
2008 Canada Masters The 2008 Canada Masters (also known as the 2008 Rogers Masters and 2008 Rogers Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 119th edition of the Canada Masters for the men (the 107th edition for ...
, where they lost to Nestor and Zimonjić. Their losses ended at the
2008 Cincinnati Masters The 2008 Cincinnati Masters (also known as the ''Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open'' for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 107th edition of the Cincinnati Masters, a ...
, when they came from behind to beat Bhupathi and Knowles. They won the title with a comeback against
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
's Erlich and Ram, earning themselves two successive wins coming back from the loss of the first set. The brothers combined at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After losing to singles specialists and eventual gold medalists
Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
and
Stanislas Wawrinka Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
, they beat Clément and Llodra 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 to win the bronze medal. The brothers did not appear again until the 2008 US Open, where they won the title. They then lost in the quarter-finals of the 2008 Madrid Masters to Björkman and Ullyett. At the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, they reached the final, only to be defeated by Nestor and Zimonjić and so to lose their positions as world Number 1s for the first time in three years.


2009

In January, the brothers entered the
Medibank International The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, is a professional tennis tournament i ...
, in Sydney, Australia, defeating
Simone Bolelli Simone Bolelli (; born 8 October 1985) is an Italian professional tennis player. Bolelli is a Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Australian Open doubles event with Fabio Fognini, together becoming the first all-Italian men's pair to win a ...
and
Andreas Seppi Andreas Seppi (born 21 February 1984) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 on 28 January 2013. He became the first Italian to win a title on all three surfaces. Tennis ca ...
, and in the quarter-final,
Tommy Robredo Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters ea ...
and
Feliciano López Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...
in straight sets. They survived a semi-final match against
Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...
and
Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamian professional tennis coach and former professional tennis player, becoming the former number 1 in world as a specialist in doubles tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in ...
. They avenged their Tennis Masters Cup doubles final loss with a win over Daniel Nestor and
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
to win their first Medibank International doubles title in 10 years. At the season's first Grand Slam, in Melbourne, the Australian Open, the brothers won the men's Doubles final, on Saturday, January 31, defeating India's
Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...
and
Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamian professional tennis coach and former professional tennis player, becoming the former number 1 in world as a specialist in doubles tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in ...
from the Bahamas in three sets. The outcome was historical in that it was the first time in tennis history that siblings had won both categories of Doubles titles – men's and women's – at a Major, as
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
and
Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
had won the Women's Doubles title at the Australian Open the previous night. At the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, they defeated second seeds Marcelo Melo and André Sá for their third title of the year and to win the tournament for the first time ever. The broke the US record for most wins in Davis Cup doubles as a pair with 15 wins when they beat the Swiss team of
Stanislas Wawrinka Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
and
Yves Allegro Yves Allegro (born 24 August 1978) is a retired Swiss professional tennis player. He is a doubles specialist and is well known as compatriot Roger Federer's doubles partner and friend. Allegro and Federer teamed up in doubles at the Australian Op ...
in the 2009 Davis Cup 1st round. Mike Bryan got one more win in Davis cup doubles (total 16) with
Mardy Fish Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
when his brother Bob was out of play due to injury in the 2008 semi-finals. At the
U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships The U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships is an annual ATP Tour tennis tournament that started in 1910. It is the last remaining ATP World Tour-level tournament in the United States to be played on clay courts. The tournament began in 1910 when the ...
in Houston, they beat fellow Americans
Jesse Levine Jesse Levine (born October 15, 1987) is an American-Canadian former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles rank of world No. 69 on October 1, 2012. Levine represented the United States through 2012, and he represented Can ...
and
Ryan Sweeting Ryan Sweeting (born July 14, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. Personal life Sweeting was born in Nassau, Bahamas. He has been living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and registered as an American to the ATP. In September 20 ...
to win their fourth title of the year. At the
Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell The Barcelona Open (currently sponsored by Banc Sabadell) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players. The event has been held in Barcelona, Spain every year from 1953 (except for its cancellation in 2020), and is played on clay ...
and
Internazionali BNL d'Italia The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
, they failed to defend their titles as they lost to Bhupathi and Knowles and to Nestor and Zimonjic in the semi-finals and final respectively. They exited the French Open in the semi-finals to South African-Belgian pair
Wesley Moodie Wesley Moodie (born 14 February 1979) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa. Career Early life and college career He began to play tennis at an early age and won the South African Junior Masters tournament in February 1996. ...
and
Dick Norman Dick Norman (born 1 March 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Belgium. He achieved a degree of folk popularity among tennis fans due to his height (6 feet 8 inches), his left-handed power game and, in the last few years of h ...
after losing three match points. They were seeded first at Wimbledon, where they reached the final without dropping a set. however, they lost the final against arch-rivals Nestor and Zimonjic in four sets. They started their US Open Series and North American hard-court season by winning the
LA Tennis Open The Los Angeles Open was a former tennis tournament held in Los Angeles, United States from 1927 until 2012. It included a women's draw until 1974 when Linda Lewis won the last ladies title. Subsequently, it became a men-only event and integrate ...
over
Benjamin Becker Benjamin Becker (born 16 June 1981) is a German retired professional tennis player who is known for defeating former world No. 1 Andre Agassi in the third round at the 2006 US Open in what was Agassi's last match as a professional player. Bec ...
and Frank Moser of Germany. They were the defending champions at the 2009 US Open and lost in the quarter-finals to Lukáš Dlouhý and
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...
in a re-match of the 2008 final despite saving five match points. The brothers won their next ATP World Tour 500 title in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. The next week, they competed at the eighth Masters 1000 tournament of the year, the Shanghai Masters, but lost in the quarter-finals. They then competed in
Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
as a warm-up tournament before
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
and
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. They reached the final but lost to Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić. At Paris, they lost at the quarter-finals. However, they captured the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to end the year as the World No. 1 Doubles Team for the fifth time and capture the Year-end championships for the third time. The year 2009 was the first year since 2004 where the brothers did not win any ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments.


2010

The brothers began 2010 playing at the 2010 Heineken Open in Auckland. However, the pair lost in the first round. They then went on successfully defending their title at the 2010 Australian Open, beating Daniel Nestor and
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
in the final, thus claiming their fourth Australian Open title and eighth major title. They also defended their titles at the 2010 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (where they earned their 600th victory as a team) and the
U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships The U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships is an annual ATP Tour tennis tournament that started in 1910. It is the last remaining ATP World Tour-level tournament in the United States to be played on clay courts. The tournament began in 1910 when the ...
in Houston. The brothers participated in the first round of Davis Cup, where they were drawn to face Serbia in Belgrade on clay courts. Mike had to withdraw due to food poisoning and was replaced by
John Isner John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Considered one of the best servers ...
. Bob and Isner won the doubles rubber in five sets against
Janko Tipsarević Janko Tipsarević ( sr-cyr, Јанко Типсаревић, ; born 22 June 1984) is a Serbian former tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 8, achieved on 2 April 2012. In his career, he won 4 ATP World Tour titles, one AT ...
and Zimonjić. However, the US lost the tie 3–2 (with the last rubber being a dead rubber). The brothers then won two back to back Masters Series titles during the European clay tour at the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open. They defeated compatriots Isner and
Sam Querrey Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...
in Rome, and co-world No. 1s Nestor and Zimonjić in Madrid. This ended their ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title drought since August 2008 and equalled
The Woodies The Woodies was the nickname given to the tennis doubles pairing of Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, one of the most successful pairings in tennis history. The Woodies combined Woodforde's left-handed baseline play with Woodbr ...
' record of 61 doubles titles. Seeded first at the
2010 French Open The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 114th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 23 May through ...
, the Bryans suffered their earliest exit at a Grand Slam since the 2001 US Open by losing to Marcelo Melo and
Bruno Soares Bruno Fraga Soares (; born 27 February 1982) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. A doubles specialist, Soares won six major titles, the Australian Open and US Open in 2016 alongside Jamie Murray, and ...
in the second round. They did not compete in any of the warm-up tournaments before Wimbledon. At Wimbledon, however, the defending champions Nestor and Zimonjić made an early exit, creating the possibility for the brothers to regain the No. 1 doubles teaming, but lost to
Wesley Moodie Wesley Moodie (born 14 February 1979) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa. Career Early life and college career He began to play tennis at an early age and won the South African Junior Masters tournament in February 1996. ...
and
Dick Norman Dick Norman (born 1 March 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Belgium. He achieved a degree of folk popularity among tennis fans due to his height (6 feet 8 inches), his left-handed power game and, in the last few years of h ...
in the quarter-finals. To start their 2010 North American summer hard-court swing, the brothers won their 62nd career doubles title at their hometown tournament in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, where they were the defending champions. They reached the final and became the first team in the Open Era to reach 100 doubles finals. The win surpassed the Woodies record of 61 wins as a team. Their next target is the all-time record of 79 set by Pam Shriver and Martina Navratilova. They next participated in the
2010 Legg Mason Tennis Classic The 2010 Legg Mason Tennis Classic was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 42nd edition of this event and was part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2010 ATP World Tour. It took place at the William H.G. FitzGerald T ...
in Washington, D.C., where they lost in the quarter-finals to
Rohan Bopanna Rohan Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player. His singles career-high ranking was world No. 213 in 2007 and his career-high ranking in doubles was world No. 3 on 22 July 2013. He has been a member of the Indian ...
and
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Punjabi, ; born 17 Mar 1980) is a Pakistani professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He is the only Pakistani player ever to reach a Grand Slam final, having done so in both men's and mixed doubles at the ...
. The brothers continued their ATP World Tour Masters 1000 winning streak by capturing their 63rd title at the 2010 Rogers Cup in Toronto, adding to their titles in 2002 and 2006 and their 64th title at the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, adding to their titles in 2003 and 2008. This ensured their return to the No. 1 spot in the team rankings. This marked their wins in four consecutive Masters 1000 tournaments. Their winning streak continued as they won the 2010 US Open, giving the brothers a ninth major title, just two shy from the Woodies, by beating Bopanna and Qureshi in the final. On September 6, 2010, they were ranked number one in doubles based on the ATP ranking system for 205 weeks, surpassing
Todd Woodbridge Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM (born 2 April 1971) is an Australian former professional tennis player and current sports broadcaster with the Nine Network. Woodbridge is best known for his successful Doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde (n ...
's previous record of 204 weeks. Playing in the 2010 China Open in Beijing to start their Asian hard-court swing, their first tournament after their Flushing Meadows victory, they extended their winning streak to 18–0 with a victory in the final over
Mariusz Fyrstenberg Mariusz Stanisław Fyrstenberg (born 8 July 1980) is a retired left-handed Polish tennis player who was a doubles specialist. Fyrstenberg primarily partnered Marcin Matkowski. The pair won the Madrid Open twice, in addition to reaching the fin ...
and
Marcin Matkowski Marcin Matkowski (; born 15 January 1981) is a Polish former professional tennis player whose speciality is in doubles. He played college tennis at UCLA, where Jean-Julien Rojer was one of his teammates. Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg won t ...
. It was noted that they won their tenth title of the season on October 10, 2010. After this successful title defense, their next tournament was the 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters where their winning streak ended at 20 after losing to
Jürgen Melzer Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a younger brother, Gera ...
and
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...
in the semi-finals. The Bryans then participated at the
2010 Davidoff Swiss Indoors The 2010 Swiss Indoors was a men's tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Indoor courts, indoor hard courts. It was the 41st edition of the event known that year as the Davidoff Swiss Indoors, and was part of the ATP World Tour 500 series, 500 S ...
where the clinched the year-end no.1 ranking by reaching the semi-finals. They ended up winning their 11th title of the year in their 11th final by beating defending champions Nestor and Zimonjić in the final. They capped up their season by losing to
Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamian professional tennis coach and former professional tennis player, becoming the former number 1 in world as a specialist in doubles tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in ...
and
Andy Ram Andreas "Andy" Ram ( he, אנדי רם; born April 10, 1980) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. He was primarily a doubles player, and competed in three Olympics. He is the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam ...
in the semi-finals of the
2010 BNP Paribas Masters The 2010 BNP Paribas Masters was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 38th edition of the tournament known that year as the BNP Paribas Masters after the sponsor BNP Paribas. It was part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 ...
in Paris, and to Nestor and Zimonjić in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.


2011

The brothers began 2011 at the 2011 Medibank International Sydney where they reached the final. The pair lost to first-time pairing of Lukáš Dlouhý and Paul Hanley, marking their first final loss since March 2008 to a team other than Nestor/Zimonjic. They next traveled to Melbourne and successfully defended their 2011 Australian Open title, beating Indian duo
Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...
and
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...
in the final. This was the Bryans' third straight title at the Australian Open (and their fifth overall), and their tenth Grand Slam title (just one shy from the Woodies). They suffered early exits in Acapulco, Indian Wells and
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
but bounced back to win their 69th title in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
. They followed this victory with their 70th title in
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
the week after. This was their 18th Masters 1000 title, tying them with
Todd Woodbridge Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM (born 2 April 1971) is an Australian former professional tennis player and current sports broadcaster with the Nine Network. Woodbridge is best known for his successful Doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde (n ...
and six shy of all-time Masters 1000 leader Daniel Nestor. Their next tournament was the
2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell The 2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell (also known as the ''Torneo Godó'') was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 59th edition of the event known this year as the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, and was part of the ATP ...
, where they ended as runners-up to first time pairing of Santiago González and
Scott Lipsky Scott Lipsky (born August 14, 1981 in Merrick, New York) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. As a player, Lipsky was primarily a doubles specialist. As a junior, Lipsky was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. in singles in 1995, an ...
after missing four match points in a closely fought final. They continued their clay court dominance by winning (and defending) their fourth Madrid Masters title beating
Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...
and
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
in the final. It was the Bryans' 19th Masters title. Their next tournament was the
Rome Masters The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
, where they lost in the quarter-finals to compatriots
Mardy Fish Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
and
Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
. They lost in the
2011 French Open The 2011 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 115th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 Jun ...
semi-finals to first-time pairing of
Juan Sebastián Cabal Juan Sebastián Cabal Valdés (; born 25 April 1986) is a Colombian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 184 in February 2011, but has achieved most of his success i ...
and
Eduardo Schwank Eduardo Jonatan Schwank (; also known as ''Schwanka''; born 23 April 1986) is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina. In 2011, he reached the finals of the French Open in men's doubles partnering Juan Sebastian Cabal and of the US ...
. They bounced back, clinching their fourth Queen's Club title, beating fellow Australian Open finalists Bhupathi/Paes in the final in a tough three-setter. They followed this up winning Wimbledon on July 2, defeating
Robert Lindstedt Robert Lindstedt (born 19 March 1977) is a Swedish former professional tennis player who specialized in doubles. He turned professional in 1998, and reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in May 2013. Lindstedt won his first Grand ...
and
Horia Tecău Horia Tecău (; born January 19, 1985) is a Romanian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. He is a three-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Wimbledon Championships and 2017 US Open alongside Jean-Julien Roje ...
in straight sets. This was their second Wimbledon title and tied
The Woodies The Woodies was the nickname given to the tennis doubles pairing of Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, one of the most successful pairings in tennis history. The Woodies combined Woodforde's left-handed baseline play with Woodbr ...
' record of 11 Grand Slam titles. The brothers failed to defend their title at the
Rogers Cup The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
although they reached the final and lost to Llodra and Zimonjic in three sets. Their next stop was at the
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
where they again failed to defend their title by falling to Bhupathi/Paes in the semi-finals. Their late season struggles continued at the US Open, losing in the first round. This was their first first round exit since the 2001 Australian Open. At the 2011 China Open in Beijing they were, again, unable to defend their title as they were beaten in the semi-finals by Llodra and Zimonjic in three sets. They lost the
2011 Shanghai Rolex Masters The 2011 Shanghai Rolex Masters was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the third edition of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2011 ATP World Tour. It took place ...
quarter-finals to
Mariusz Fyrstenberg Mariusz Stanisław Fyrstenberg (born 8 July 1980) is a retired left-handed Polish tennis player who was a doubles specialist. Fyrstenberg primarily partnered Marcin Matkowski. The pair won the Madrid Open twice, in addition to reaching the fin ...
and
Marcin Matkowski Marcin Matkowski (; born 15 January 1981) is a Polish former professional tennis player whose speciality is in doubles. He played college tennis at UCLA, where Jean-Julien Rojer was one of his teammates. Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg won t ...
. The brothers played their next tournament at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna (their first appearance there since 2002) where they re-gained some form by saving a match point in a tight first round before going on to reach the final where they defeated
Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...
and Daniel Nestor in straight sets to claim their first Vienna title and their 7th title of the year (which was also their first title since Wimbledon). They then competed in the Valencia Open 500 event in the very next week and rode their momentum without dropping a set into their first final there against Eric Butorac and
Jean-Julien Rojer Jean-Julien Rojer (; ; born 25 August 1981) is a Dutch professional tennis player from Curaçao, who specialises in doubles. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in November 2015. He is a four-time Grand Slam champion, hav ...
. They went on to win the final in straight sets to earn their first Valencia title and 8th title of the season. However, they were unable to make it three titles in three weeks at the
2011 BNP Paribas Masters The 2011 BNP Paribas Masters, also known as the ''Paris Masters'', was an ATP World Tour professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 39th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2011 ATP World Tour. It ...
as they were upset in the second round by
Julien Benneteau Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
and
Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
. The brothers looked to finish their season strongly at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals but lost in the semi-finals to Mirnyi and Nestor.


2012: Record breakers

The brothers began 2012 by participating at the
2012 Apia International Sydney The 2012 Apia International Sydney was a joint Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP and Women's Tennis Association, WTA tennis tournament, that was played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 120th edition of the Apia International Sydney and w ...
where they reached the final. They went on to win the final by defeating wild cards
Matthew Ebden Matthew Ebden (born 26 November 1987) is an Australian professional tennis player. He is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2022 Wimbledon Championships in men's doubles alongside Max Purcell, and the 2013 Australian Open in mixe ...
and
Jarkko Nieminen Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles titles ...
to claim their second title in Sydney and their 76th overall without dropping a set. The brothers then aimed to win their sixth Australian Open and reached their eighth final at the event after three consecutive three-setters which included saving a match point and overcoming a 2–5 deficit in the final set tie-break in an epic semi-final against
Robert Lindstedt Robert Lindstedt (born 19 March 1977) is a Swedish former professional tennis player who specialized in doubles. He turned professional in 1998, and reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in May 2013. Lindstedt won his first Grand ...
and
Horia Tecău Horia Tecău (; born January 19, 1985) is a Romanian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. He is a three-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Wimbledon Championships and 2017 US Open alongside Jean-Julien Roje ...
. However, the brothers played
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...
and
Radek Štěpánek Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
in the final and were upset in straight sets. They were forced to withdraw from Indian Wells at the quarter-final stage with illness and were beaten in
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
at the semi-final stage by Paes and Štěpánek for the second time in 2012. They skipped Houston despite being the defending champions and instead secured a doubles rubber point in the USA-France Davis Cup tie at Monte-Carlo by defeating
Julien Benneteau Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
and
Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...
. They then went on to win their 20th Masters 1000 title and 77th title overall at
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
without dropping a set. They had thrashed Paes and Štěpánek in the quarter-finals and comfortably beaten
Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...
and Daniel Nestor in the final. However, their momentum was halted at the
2012 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell The 2012 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell (also known as the ''Torneo Godó'') was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 60th edition of the event and it was part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2012 ATP World ...
, with their withdrawal due to illness. They took to the new blue clay of the Madrid Masters as the defending champions but lost early. Their next tournament was the
Rome Masters The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
, where they lost in the quarter-finals. Keen to regain some momentum, the brothers played the 2012 Open de Nice Côte d'Azur – Doubles tournament which they won for the first time by beating
Oliver Marach Oliver Marach (born 16 July 1980) is an Austrian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He achieved his highest singles ranking of world No. 82 in August 2005, but achieved most of his success in doubles where he reache ...
and
Filip Polášek Filip Polášek (; born 21 July 1985) is a Slovak professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He was forced to retire in 2013 due to health issues, but returned in 2018 and began the most successful phase of his career. Polášek wo ...
in the final. It was their 78th title and third of the year. They then enjoyed a good run at the
2012 French Open The 2012 French Open (also known as Roland Garros, after the famous French aviator) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 116th edition of the French Open, and took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 27 May until 11 ...
before losing in the final to Mirnyi and Nestor. They immediately found form on the grass, reaching the final at the Queen's Club but failed to defend their title and were again defeated by Mirnyi and Nestor. The brothers reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon but, after a tight match, were defeated by eventual first-time wildcard titlists
Jonathan Marray Jonathan Marray (born 10 March 1981) is a former British tennis player and a Wimbledon Men's Doubles champion. Marray is a former top 20 doubles player, reaching a career high of world no. 15 in January 2013, mainly due to more regular appearan ...
and
Frederik Nielsen Frederik Løchte Nielsen (born 27 August 1983) is a former professional tennis player. He was the top ranked player from Denmark in the ATP doubles world rankings. A former Wimbledon men's doubles champion, he peaked at no. 17 in the rankin ...
. After winning the Olympic gold medal at the Summer Olympics in London (see the '2012 Olympics' section below), the brothers played the 2012 Rogers Cup in Toronto. They maintained their fine form by winning their 21st Masters 1000 title and their 80th title overall after saving a match point in a closely fought final against Spaniards Marcel Granollers and
Marc López Marc López Tarrés (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player and coach. His career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 106 (May 2004) and world No. 3 in doubles (January 2013). Partnering Feliciano López, M ...
. The brothers went on to the
2012 Western & Southern Open The 2012 Western and Southern Open (known as such for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 111th edition (for the men) and the 84th (for the women) of the Cincinnati Masters, and was part of the A ...
in Cincinnati, where they lost in the semi-finals to Lindstedt and Tecău. They went on to win the 2012 US Open over Paes and Štěpánek (who had beaten the Bryans in the final of the Australian Open earlier in the year). This was the brothers' 12th major title, which meant they had surpassed the Woodies' record of 11, giving the brothers the most major titles in men's doubles in the Open Era. In November, Bob Bryan, who had missed a Davis Cup match due to the birth of his daughter, during which Mike had played with
Mardy Fish Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
, slipped behind Mike in the world rankings. This was the first time since August 2003 that the pair had had different rankings. This meant Mike Bryan finished 2012 as world No. 1 on his own.


2012 Olympics

They returned to Wimbledon for the Summer Olympics Tennis Tournament. They beat Bellucci/Sa of Brazil in the first round, Davydenko/Youzhny of Russia in the second round, Erlich/Ram of Israel in the quarterfinals, and Benneteau/Gasquet of France in the semi-finals. They entered the Gold Medal Match assured of at least a silver medal, but defeated Llodra/Tsonga of France to win the Olympic gold medal on August 4, 2012. This completed the career Golden Slam in men's doubles for the brothers, having won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open and the Olympic gold medal.


2013: Non-calendar Golden Slam

The brothers started 2013 by participating at the 2013 Apia International Sydney which they won by defeating
Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...
and
Horia Tecău Horia Tecău (; born January 19, 1985) is a Romanian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. He is a three-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Wimbledon Championships and 2017 US Open alongside Jean-Julien Roje ...
in the final to claim their third title in Sydney and their 83rd overall. The Bryans then aimed to win their sixth Australian Open. They did just that by emerging victorious in their ninth final at the event by beating the Dutch team of
Robin Haase Robin Haase (; born 6 April 1987) is a Dutch professional tennis player. He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 in July 2012, and has won two singles titles, at the Austrian Open in both 2011 and 2012. Haase also reache ...
and
Igor Sijsling Igor Sijsling (; born 18 August 1987) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Sijsling reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 52 on 17 February 2014. His biggest accomplishment is reaching the final of Australian Open Do ...
. This gave the brothers an all-time record 13 Grand Slam titles. They surpassed the pre-Open Era record of 12 titles held by John Newcombe and
Tony Roche Anthony Dalton Roche AO MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player. A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagga Wagga. He won one Grand Slam singles title, t ...
. The brothers participated in the first round of the Davis Cup, where they were drawn to face Brazil in Jacksonville on indoor hard-courts. For only the third time in their career, the Bryans lost a Davis Cup doubles match when they lost in five sets to Marcelo Melo and
Bruno Soares Bruno Fraga Soares (; born 27 February 1982) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. A doubles specialist, Soares won six major titles, the Australian Open and US Open in 2016 alongside Jamie Murray, and ...
. It was their first loss of the season. However, the US would go on to win the tie 3–2 when
Sam Querrey Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...
won the deciding rubber. They then played at the
2013 SAP Open The 2013 SAP Open was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 125th and final edition of the SAP Open, and part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2013 ATP World Tour. It took place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, ...
in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
. It was the final edition of the tournament and therefore, the Bryans' last chance to win this tournament which had so far eluded them. However, they lost in the quarter-finals to the Australian pairing of
Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
and
Marinko Matosevic Marinko Matosevic ( hr, Marinko Matošević, ; born 8 August 1985) is a retired Australian professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 39, which he achieved in February 2013. Matosevic defeated top players including ...
. They bounced back immediately at the 2013 Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in
Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...
. They won their third title of the season without dropping a set winning an all-American final against James Blake and
Jack Sock Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
. Following this win, Bob rejoined Mike as World No. 1. Their next tournament was the first Masters 1000 of the year at Indian Wells. This was the only Masters 1000 tournament that the Bryans had yet to win. The brothers rode their momentum and won the tournament after prevailing in super-tiebreakers in the quarter-final, the semi-final, and in the final against first-time pairing
Treat Huey Treat Conrad Huey (; born August 28, 1985) is a Filipino-American tennis player who represents the Philippines in international competitions. He turned professional in 2008 and he started representing the Philippines in the Davis Cup and the ...
and Jerzy Janowicz. This was their 22nd Masters 1000 title, their 4th title of the year, and their 86th title as a team. Their next tournament was the 2013 Sony Ericsson Open in
Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
where they lost in the first round to
Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...
and
Mikhail Youzhny Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian retired professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Assoc ...
. The brothers then played in
Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...
in the Davis Cup quarter-finals against Serbia on indoor hard-courts. However, the twins lost in five sets (15–13 in the fifth) to
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
and
Ilija Bozoljac Ilija Bozoljac ( sr-Cyrl, Илија Бозољац, ; born 2 August 1985) is a former Serbian professional tennis player and coach. On 29 January 2007, Bozoljac reached his best singles ranking of world No. 101. On 22 February 2016, he peaked at ...
. It was the first-time in their career that they had lost back-to-back Davis Cup doubles rubbers and it was their fourth loss overall in the competition. This defeat put the US 2–1 behind in rubbers. They were unable to recover and lost the tie 3–1 when
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
beat
Sam Querrey Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...
in the first reverse singles match. Their next tournament was
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
where they were defending champions and on a 16 match winning streak. However, their streak came to an end in the final where, despite having a match point, they were defeated by
Jamie Murray Jamie Robert Murray, (born 13 February 1986) is a Scottish professional tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup win ...
and
John Peers John William Peers (born 25 July 1988) is an Australian professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open, where he and Henri Kontinen won the men's doubles event. Peers also ...
. Their next event was
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
where again, they were the defending champions. However, once again, they lost in the final after squandering seven match points against
Julien Benneteau Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
and
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
. Their next event was the Madrid Masters which had reverted to red clay. The brothers reached the final against Alexander Peya and
Bruno Soares Bruno Fraga Soares (; born 27 February 1982) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. A doubles specialist, Soares won six major titles, the Australian Open and US Open in 2016 alongside Jamie Murray, and ...
. There were no missed match points this time as the Bryans closed out a comfortable win to earn their 23rd Masters 1000 title and 5th title of the year. They continued their fine run at the
Rome Masters The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
defeating Indians
Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...
and
Rohan Bopanna Rohan Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player. His singles career-high ranking was world No. 213 in 2007 and his career-high ranking in doubles was world No. 3 on 22 July 2013. He has been a member of the Indian ...
in the final. It was their 88th team title, their 6th title in 2013, and their 24th Masters 1000 title. The brothers' clay-court form culminated in a 14th Grand Slam title at the 2013 French Open. They defeated the all-French pairing of
Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...
and
Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
in a third-set tiebreak to claim their second French Open title and 7th title of the year. It was their 89th team title and 3rd consecutive Grand Slam title. On June 10, it was announced that the twins had qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the 12th time. The brothers got their grass-court campaign underway at the Queen's Club. They won their fifth Queen's Club title by defeating Peya and Soares in the final. It was their 8th title of the season and 90th title overall. They were on an 18 match winning streak going into Wimbledon. On July 6, the brothers achieved a historic Golden Slam as they won their 15th Grand Slam title and third Wimbledon. The twins became the second doubles team in history to hold all four majors at the same time (the only other team was the Australian duo of
Ken McGregor Kenneth Bruce McGregor (2 June 1929 – 1 December 2007) was an Australian tennis player from Adelaide who won the Men's Singles title at the Australian Championships in 1952. He and his longtime doubles partner, Frank Sedgman, are generally ...
and
Frank Sedgman Francis "Frank" Arthur Sedgman (born 29 October 1927) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Over the course of a three-decade career, Sedgman won five Grand Slam singles tournaments as an amateur as well as 22 Grand Slam doubles ...
who achieved the Calendar Grand Slam in 1951). By defeating
Ivan Dodig Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...
and Marcelo Melo in the final, they became as well as the first team to hold all four major titles and the Olympic gold medal at the same time. The brothers withdrew from the 2013 BB&T Atlanta Open and the 2013 Citi Open in Washington citing an injury to Bob's shoulder. Their next event was the
2013 Rogers Cup The 2013 Rogers Cup presented by National Bank was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 124th edition (for the men) and the 112th (for the women) of the Canadian Open, and was part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of t ...
in Montreal where they were the defending champions. However, their 25 match winning streak came to an end in the quarter-finals, losing to
Robert Lindstedt Robert Lindstedt (born 19 March 1977) is a Swedish former professional tennis player who specialized in doubles. He turned professional in 1998, and reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in May 2013. Lindstedt won his first Grand ...
and Daniel Nestor. At the 2013 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati they saved a match point in the semi-finals before defeating Spaniards Marcel Granollers and
Marc López Marc López Tarrés (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player and coach. His career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 106 (May 2004) and world No. 3 in doubles (January 2013). Partnering Feliciano López, M ...
in the final. It was the brothers' 10th title of 2013 and 25th Masters 1000 title. With this victory, the twins were guaranteed the year-end No. 1 team ranking for a record 9th time on August 19. However, at the 2013 US Open, the Bryans were defeated in the semi-finals by
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...
and
Radek Štěpánek Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
in a rematch of the previous year's final. This loss prevented them from achieving the Calendar Grand Slam. Their next event was the Japan Open. It was the twins' first time competing in this tournament but things did not go as planned as they were defeated in their opening match by
Nicolás Almagro Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ...
and
Pablo Cuevas Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is an inactive Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna. He has won six singles titles and has a career-high singles ranking of ...
. Their next tournament was the
2013 Shanghai Rolex Masters The 2013 Shanghai Rolex Masters was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the fifth edition of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2013 ATP World Tour. It took place a ...
where they were beaten in the semi-finals by Dodig and Melo. The brothers played the Valencia Open where they were defeated in the final by Peya and Soares despite having 4 match points. The brothers beat Peya and Soares in the final of the 2013 BNP Paribas Masters for their 26th Masters 1000 title. Their final event was the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals where they saved a match point en route to the final before being defeated by Spaniards
David Marrero David Marrero Santana (; born 8 April 1980) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Marrero won 14 doubles titles and reaching a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 5 in November 2013. Professional career 2000–2007 Marrero earned h ...
and
Fernando Verdasco Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spanish professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7, achieved in April 2009. His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 ...
. This loss brought to a close the greatest season of the brothers' career where they reached 15 finals, won 11 titles (including 3 majors and 5 Masters 1000 titles), and finished world No. 1 for the 9th time.


2014: Six Masters titles

The Bryan brothers began 2014 attempting to defend their title at the
2014 Apia International Sydney The 2014 Apia International Sydney was a joint 2014 ATP World Tour and 2014 WTA Tour tennis tournament, played on outdoor hard courts in Sydney, New South Wales. It was the 122nd edition of the tournament and took place at the NSW Tennis Centre ...
. However, they were upset in the quarter-finals by
Lukáš Rosol Lukáš Rosol (; born 24 July 1985) is a Czech professional tennis player. He competes on the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Tour, both in singles and doubles. Rosol was coached by former Czech player, 1999 US Open quarterfinalist Ctislav Dosed ...
and
João Sousa João Pedro Coelho Marinho de Sousa (born 30 March 1989), known as João Sousa (), is a Portuguese professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 28 on 16 May 2016 and a doubles ranking of No. 26 on 13 May 2 ...
. The brothers aimed to defend their Australian Open crown but were shocked in the third round by eventual finalists, Eric Butorac and
Raven Klaasen Raven Klaasen ( ; born 16 October 1982) is a South African professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 7 in August 2019, and has won 19 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, includi ...
. The twins participated in the first round of the Davis Cup where they were drawn to face Great Britain in San Diego on outdoor clay. They secured a point for the United States by winning the doubles rubber against
Colin Fleming Colin Fleming (born 13 August 1984) is a British retired professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. As part of the Davis Cup team, he won eight successive doubles matches to help Great Britain into the World Group. He also won his ...
and
Dominic Inglot Dominic Inglot ( ; born 6 March 1986) is a British former professional tennis player and a Davis Cup champion. A doubles specialist; he made the final of twenty seven ATP World Tour events, winning fourteen, including the Citi Open and Swiss In ...
. For Mike, it was the 35-year-old's 23rd doubles victory in the competition – the most by an American. The brothers reached the final of the 2014 U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
but were unable to defend their title, losing again by Butorac and Klaasen. They bounced back at the 2014 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships which they won without dropping a set to claim their first title of the season. Their next tournament was the first Masters 1000 of the year at Indian Wells where the brothers successfully defended their title by defeating Alexander Peya and
Bruno Soares Bruno Fraga Soares (; born 27 February 1982) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. A doubles specialist, Soares won six major titles, the Australian Open and US Open in 2016 alongside Jamie Murray, and ...
in the final. The twins immediately followed this up by winning
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
. They defeated
Juan Sebastián Cabal Juan Sebastián Cabal Valdés (; born 25 April 1986) is a Colombian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 184 in February 2011, but has achieved most of his success i ...
and Robert Farah in the final to claim their first Indian Wells-Miami double, their 28th Masters 1000 crown, and 96th title overall. The brothers got their clay-court campaign off to a flying start by claiming their fifth
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
title defeating Spaniards
David Marrero David Marrero Santana (; born 8 April 1980) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Marrero won 14 doubles titles and reaching a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 5 in November 2013. Professional career 2000–2007 Marrero earned h ...
and
Fernando Verdasco Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spanish professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7, achieved in April 2009. His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 ...
in a closely fought final. At
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
, the brothers won their 29th Masters 1000 crown and 4th consecutive Masters 1000 tournament by beating
Ivan Dodig Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...
and Marcelo Melo in the final. This title marked their 98th title as a team and Mike's 100th doubles title. The twins had now won five consecutive tournaments and were on a 21 match winning streak. However, this streak came to an end in the final of the Madrid Masters where they were defeated by Daniel Nestor and
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
. The twins' next event was the
Rome Masters The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
, where they were beaten again by Nestor and Zimonjić in the semi-finals. The brothers tried to defend their title at the
2014 French Open The 2014 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 118th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 25 May to 8 June. It consisted of e ...
but were defeated in the quarter-finals by Marcel Granollers and
Marc López Marc López Tarrés (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player and coach. His career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 106 (May 2004) and world No. 3 in doubles (January 2013). Partnering Feliciano López, M ...
. The brothers began their grass-court campaign attempting to defend their title at
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. However, they were defeated in the second round by
Jamie Murray Jamie Robert Murray, (born 13 February 1986) is a Scottish professional tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup win ...
and
John Peers John William Peers (born 25 July 1988) is an Australian professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open, where he and Henri Kontinen won the men's doubles event. Peers also ...
. At Wimbledon, the Bryan brothers reached the final, where they were beaten in five sets by the doubles team of
Vasek Pospisil Vasek Pospisil ( ; cs, Vašek Pospíšil, ; known in born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high world singles ranking of No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 ...
of Canada and
Jack Sock Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
of the United States. The brothers were then defeated in the quarter-finals of the
2014 Citi Open The 2014 Citi Open (known as such for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 46th edition (for the men) and the 4th edition (for the women) of the event known this year as the Citi Open, and was p ...
in Washington by
Steve Johnson (tennis) Steve "Stevie" Johnson Jr. (born December 24, 1989) is an American professional tennis player. For one week in August 2016 he was the top-ranked American in men's singles. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 achieved on July 2 ...
and
Sam Querrey Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...
. At the
2014 Rogers Cup The 2014 Rogers Cup presented by National Bank was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 125th edition (for the men) and the 113th (for the women) of the Canadian Open, and was part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of t ...
in Toronto, they were beaten in their opening match by
Marin Čilić Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
and Santiago González. They then went on to avenge their Wimbledon final loss by defeating Pospisil and Sock in the final of the 2014 Western & Southern Open to claim their 30th Masters 1000 crown and 99th team title. The Bryans continued their winning streak at the 2014 US Open where they won their 16th major title, a record 5th US Open, and a ground-breaking 100th doubles title as a team. The twins defeated the all-Spanish pairing of Granollers and López in the final to ensure that they have now won at least won one major title per year for a record 10 consecutive years. Having kept the United States in the World Group of the Davis Cup by beating
Norbert Gombos Norbert Gombos (, hu, Gombos Norbert; born 13 August 1990), occasionally spelled Norbert Gomboš, is a Slovak professional tennis player competing primarily on the ATP Challenger Tour and playing for the Slovakia Davis Cup team. He achieved a ...
and
Lukáš Lacko Lukáš Lacko (; born 3 November 1987) is a former professional Slovak tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is World No. 44, achieved in January 2013. Tennis career Juniors As a junior Lacko compiled a singles win–loss record ...
in a play-off against Slovakia, the Bryan brothers did not begin the Asian swing well. Like last year, the twins were defeated in their opening match at the Japan Open- this time, by lucky losers and eventual champions
Pierre-Hugues Herbert Pierre-Hugues Herbert (; born 18 March 1991) is a French professional tennis player. In doubles, he has completed the Career Grand Slam with titles at the 2015 US Open, the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, the 2018 French Open, the 2021 French Op ...
and Michał Przysiężny. However, the Bryans responded in style by winning the 2014 Shanghai Rolex Masters for the first time after defeating Roland Garros champions
Julien Benneteau Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
and
Édouard Roger-Vasselin Édouard Roger-Vasselin (; born 28 November 1983) is a French professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2014 French Open, winning the men's doubles partnering Julien Benneteau, a ...
in the final. This was the twins' 31st Masters 1000 title and 101st title overall. However, most significantly, the victory meant that the Bryan brothers became the first doubles team to achieve a "Career Golden Masters" as they have now won all nine current ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments. The victory meant the brothers had secured the year-end No. 1 team ranking for the sixth consecutive year and 10th time overall (both records). The Bryans continued their fine run by defeating
Marcin Matkowski Marcin Matkowski (; born 15 January 1981) is a Polish former professional tennis player whose speciality is in doubles. He played college tennis at UCLA, where Jean-Julien Rojer was one of his teammates. Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg won t ...
and
Jürgen Melzer Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a younger brother, Gera ...
in the final of the
2014 BNP Paribas Masters The 2014 BNP Paribas Masters was a professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 42nd edition of the tournament, and part of the 2014 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Par ...
to capture their 32nd Masters 1000 title. The win meant that the twins became the first players in singles or doubles to win six Masters 1000 crowns in a single season (
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
would go on to equal this feat in the 2015 season). At the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the Bryans lost their opening group match to Australian Open champions
Łukasz Kubot Łukasz Kubot (; born 16 May 1982) is a Polish professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a two-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2014 Australian Open with Robert Lindstedt, as well as the 2017 W ...
and
Robert Lindstedt Robert Lindstedt (born 19 March 1977) is a Swedish former professional tennis player who specialized in doubles. He turned professional in 1998, and reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in May 2013. Lindstedt won his first Grand ...
. However, they rebounded by beating
Jean-Julien Rojer Jean-Julien Rojer (; ; born 25 August 1981) is a Dutch professional tennis player from Curaçao, who specialises in doubles. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in November 2015. He is a four-time Grand Slam champion, hav ...
and
Horia Tecău Horia Tecău (; born January 19, 1985) is a Romanian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. He is a three-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Wimbledon Championships and 2017 US Open alongside Jean-Julien Roje ...
, and Peya and Soares to qualify for the semi-finals. The twins then thrashed the all-French pairing of Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin to reach the final. In the last match of the year, the Bryans defeated Dodig and Melo to claim their fourth World Tour Finals crown and 10th title of another hugely successful season.. They would finish as the year-end No. 1 team for a 6th consecutive year and 10th overall, both records.


2015: Decline

The Bryan brothers began their year at the Heineken Open in Auckland where they were beaten in their opening match by Andre Begemann and
Robin Haase Robin Haase (; born 6 April 1987) is a Dutch professional tennis player. He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 in July 2012, and has won two singles titles, at the Austrian Open in both 2011 and 2012. Haase also reache ...
after a disputed line-call when the twins were match point up. The Bryans' early season struggles continued as they were upset in the third round of the
2015 Australian Open The 2015 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park from 19 January to 1 February 2015. It was the 103rd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Stan Wawrinka was the def ...
by
Dominic Inglot Dominic Inglot ( ; born 6 March 1986) is a British former professional tennis player and a Davis Cup champion. A doubles specialist; he made the final of twenty seven ATP World Tour events, winning fourteen, including the Citi Open and Swiss In ...
and
Florin Mergea Florin Mergea (; born 26 January 1985) is a Romanian tennis player and a doubles specialist. He has reached the final of the ATP World Tour Finals in 2015 and won an ATP Masters title at the Mutua Madrid Open earlier that year. He achieved a c ...
. It was the first time that the Bryan brothers had made consecutive pre-quarter-final exits at a major since Roland Garros (2000–2001). They responded by successfully defending their title at the 2015 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships by defeating
Raven Klaasen Raven Klaasen ( ; born 16 October 1982) is a South African professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 7 in August 2019, and has won 19 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, includi ...
and
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...
in the final. However, their momentum was stalled in the quarter-finals of the 2015 Dubai Tennis Championships where they were beaten again by Inglot and Mergea. The twins participated in the first round of the Davis Cup where they were drawn to face Great Britain in Glasgow on indoor hard-court. Although it proved to be in vain, they kept the tie alive by winning the doubles rubber in five sets against
Jamie Murray Jamie Robert Murray, (born 13 February 1986) is a Scottish professional tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup win ...
and
Dominic Inglot Dominic Inglot ( ; born 6 March 1986) is a British former professional tennis player and a Davis Cup champion. A doubles specialist; he made the final of twenty seven ATP World Tour events, winning fourteen, including the Citi Open and Swiss In ...
. The next tournament for the brothers was the first Masters 1000 of the year at Indian Wells where they were the two-time defending champions. However, their streak at the tournament was snapped in the quarter-finals by eventual champions
Vasek Pospisil Vasek Pospisil ( ; cs, Vašek Pospíšil, ; known in born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high world singles ranking of No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 ...
and
Jack Sock Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
. However, at the Miami Open they defeated Pospisil and Sock in the final to defend the title and claim their second title of the season. The brothers got their clay-court campaign off to a slow start by losing in the quarter-finals of
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
to eventual champions
Teymuraz Gabashvili Teymuraz Besikovich Gabashvili ( rus, Теймураз Бесикович Габашвили, , tɛɪ̯mʊˈraz ɡəbɐˈʂvʲilʲɪ; born 23 May 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of World No. 4 ...
and
Ričardas Berankis Ričardas Berankis (; born June 21, 1990) is a Lithuanian professional tennis player. He is the first and only Lithuanian citizen (not counting Lithuanian American Vitas Gerulaitis) to enter the ATP top 50 rankings, making him the highest ran ...
. This was their earliest defeat at this ATP World Tour 250-level tournament since losing in the same round in 2006. However, the Bryans responded well by successfully defending their title in
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
by defeating Australian Open champions
Simone Bolelli Simone Bolelli (; born 8 October 1985) is an Italian professional tennis player. Bolelli is a Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Australian Open doubles event with Fabio Fognini, together becoming the first all-Italian men's pair to win a ...
and
Fabio Fognini Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. He is currently ranked (July 2022) in 64th place by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
in the final. However, their inconsistent year continued with back-to-back second round exits at the Madrid Masters and the
Rome Masters The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
. Despite these early losses, the twins reached the final of the
2015 French Open The 2015 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 119th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 24 May to 7 June and consisted of ...
. However, despite leading by a set and a break at one stage, the Bryans were ultimately defeated in three tight sets by
Ivan Dodig Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...
and Marcelo Melo. At Wimbledon, the Bryans were beaten in the quarter-finals by
Rohan Bopanna Rohan Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player. His singles career-high ranking was world No. 213 in 2007 and his career-high ranking in doubles was world No. 3 on 22 July 2013. He has been a member of the Indian ...
and Florin Mergea. The Bryans began the North American hard court season in fine fashion by winning their first title in Atlanta, defeating
Colin Fleming Colin Fleming (born 13 August 1984) is a British retired professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. As part of the Davis Cup team, he won eight successive doubles matches to help Great Britain into the World Group. He also won his ...
and
Gilles Müller Gilles Müller (; born 9 May 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Luxembourg. He is a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and the most successful male tennis player in the history of his country. Müller won two titles on the ATP W ...
in the final. The Bryans followed this with a triumph at the 2015 Citi Open over Dodig and Melo in the final. Their momentum continued at the
2015 Rogers Cup The 2015 Rogers Cup presented by National Bank was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 126th edition (for the men) and the 114th (for the women) of the Canadian Open (tennis), Canadian Open, and was part of the ATP World ...
in Montreal where they defeated Daniel Nestor and
Édouard Roger-Vasselin Édouard Roger-Vasselin (; born 28 November 1983) is a French professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2014 French Open, winning the men's doubles partnering Julien Benneteau, a ...
in the final to claim a 5th title in Canada, 35th Masters 1000 title and 6th title of the season. However, Nestor and Roger-Vasselin would defeat the Bryans in the quarter-finals of the
2015 Western & Southern Open The 2015 Western & Southern Open was a men's and women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts August 15–23, 2015. It was part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of the 2015 ATP World Tour and of the WTA Premier 5 tournaments of th ...
the following week. The Bryan Brothers were stunned in the first round of the 2015 US Open by countrymen Steve Johnson and
Sam Querrey Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...
. It was only their second loss in the first round of a major since 2001 and marked the first season since 2004 in which the Bryans had not won at least one major title. The Bryan brothers began the Asian swing poorly. For the third consecutive year, they were defeated in their opening match at the Japan Open- this time, by Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. The twins would lose to Cabal and Farah again in their opening match at the
2015 Shanghai Rolex Masters The 2015 Shanghai Rolex Masters was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the seventh edition of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2015 ATP World Tour. It took place at Qi ...
. On November 2, their record streak of 139 consecutive weeks at number 1 as a team came to an end as they were surpassed by Melo. It marked the first time since 9 September 2012 that neither brother had reigned in the top spot. The twins were then beaten in the quarter-finals of the 2015 BNP Paribas Masters by Pospisil and Sock. At the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the Bryans lost their opening group match to Bopanna and Mergea. However, they rebounded by beating Bolelli and Fognini, and
Jamie Murray Jamie Robert Murray, (born 13 February 1986) is a Scottish professional tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup win ...
and
John Peers John William Peers (born 25 July 1988) is an Australian professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open, where he and Henri Kontinen won the men's doubles event. Peers also ...
(after saving 5 match points) to qualify for the semi-finals. They then faced
Jean-Julien Rojer Jean-Julien Rojer (; ; born 25 August 1981) is a Dutch professional tennis player from Curaçao, who specialises in doubles. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in November 2015. He is a four-time Grand Slam champion, hav ...
and
Horia Tecău Horia Tecău (; born January 19, 1985) is a Romanian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. He is a three-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Wimbledon Championships and 2017 US Open alongside Jean-Julien Roje ...
in a match that would decide the year-end No. 1 team ranking – the Bryans were defeated in straight sets.


2016

The brothers began their year at the 2016 Apia International Sydney where they were beaten in their opening match by
Jonathan Erlich Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich ( he, יונתן דאריו "יוני" ארליך, born 5 April 1977) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. During his career, he was mainly a doubles specialist, having won the men's doubles title at the ...
and
Colin Fleming Colin Fleming (born 13 August 1984) is a British retired professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. As part of the Davis Cup team, he won eight successive doubles matches to help Great Britain into the World Group. He also won his ...
. The Bryans were then upset in the third round of the
2016 Australian Open The 2016 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016. It was the 104th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of ev ...
by
Raven Klaasen Raven Klaasen ( ; born 16 October 1982) is a South African professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 7 in August 2019, and has won 19 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, includi ...
and Rajeev Ram. The twins were beaten in their opening match at the 2016 Memphis Open by
Austin Krajicek Austin Krajicek (born June 16, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking in doubles of World No. 9 achieved on 7 November 2022 and in singles of World No. 94 achieved on October 26, 2015. He is a distant c ...
and
Nicholas Monroe Benjamin Nicholas Monroe (born April 12, 1982) is an American professional tennis player. He has won 4 ATP World Tour doubles titles and 13 ATP Challenger Tour titles in his career. College career Monroe had a highly successful college caree ...
. The brothers reached the final of the
2016 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships The 2016 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships was a professional men's tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the 24th edition of the tournament, and was part of the World Tour 250 series of the 2016 ATP World Tour. It took p ...
but squandered six championship points before losing to
Oliver Marach Oliver Marach (born 16 July 1980) is an Austrian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He achieved his highest singles ranking of world No. 82 in August 2005, but achieved most of his success in doubles where he reache ...
and
Fabrice Martin Fabrice Martin (; born 11 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 228 on 23 July 2012, and his highest ATP doubles ranking, world No. 22, on 3 February 2020. Career 2019: ...
. The Bryans competed in the first round of the
2016 Davis Cup World Group The World Group was the highest level of Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countri ...
and gave the United States a 2–1 edge over Australia after a five-set win over
Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
and
John Peers John William Peers (born 25 July 1988) is an Australian professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open, where he and Henri Kontinen won the men's doubles event. Peers also ...
on the grass in Melbourne. The brothers were beaten in the quarter-finals of Indian Wells by
Édouard Roger-Vasselin Édouard Roger-Vasselin (; born 28 November 1983) is a French professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2014 French Open, winning the men's doubles partnering Julien Benneteau, a ...
and
Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...
. The Bryans were up 9–2 in the Match Tie-break, but squandered seven match points in a row (and eight overall) before losing. The twins were unable to defend their title at the 2016 Miami Open as they were beaten in the semi-finals by eventual champions
Pierre-Hugues Herbert Pierre-Hugues Herbert (; born 18 March 1991) is a French professional tennis player. In doubles, he has completed the Career Grand Slam with titles at the 2015 US Open, the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, the 2018 French Open, the 2021 French Op ...
and
Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
. The brothers saved two match points in their opening match and went on to defeat
Víctor Estrella Burgos Víctor Estrella Burgos (; born August 2, 1980) is a retired Dominican professional tennis player. In 2014, Estrella became the first Dominican to reach the top 100 in the ATP rankings. He also became the first Dominican player to reach the sem ...
and Santiago González in the final to claim their sixth
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
title. This was their first title of the year and 110th overall. Coming off their win in Houston, they looked to build on momentum. However, they failed to defend their title in
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
, losing in their opening match to
Juan Sebastián Cabal Juan Sebastián Cabal Valdés (; born 25 April 1986) is a Colombian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 184 in February 2011, but has achieved most of his success i ...
and Robert Farah. The Bryans bounced back by defeating
Pablo Cuevas Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is an inactive Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna. He has won six singles titles and has a career-high singles ranking of ...
and Marcel Granollers in the final of the
2016 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell The 2016 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (also known as the ''Torneo Godó'') was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 64th edition of the event and part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2016 ATP World Tour. It ...
to claim their third Barcelona title. At the Madrid Masters, the twins were beaten in the quarter-finals by the in-form Herbert and Mahut. Having saved three match points in their opening match, the Bryan Brothers went on to win the
Rome Masters The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
by beating
Vasek Pospisil Vasek Pospisil ( ; cs, Vašek Pospíšil, ; known in born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high world singles ranking of No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 ...
and
Jack Sock Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
in the final. This was their 36th Masters 1000 title and 112th title overall. The brothers saved one match point en route to the final of the
2016 French Open The 2016 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 120th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 22 May to 5 June and consisted of ...
. However, they were defeated in the final by the all-Spanish pairing of
Feliciano López Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...
and
Marc López Marc López Tarrés (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player and coach. His career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 106 (May 2004) and world No. 3 in doubles (January 2013). Partnering Feliciano López, M ...
. The brothers began their grass-court season at the 2016 Stuttgart Open where they were defeated in the semi-finals by Marach and Martin. At the
2016 Gerry Weber Open The 2016 Gerry Weber Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 24th edition of the event and part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2016 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Gerry Weber Stadion in Halle, Germany, ...
, the Bryans were beaten in the semi-finals by defending and eventual champions Klaasen and Ram. At Wimbledon, the twins were beaten once again by Klaasen and Ram in the quarter-finals. The Bryans began the North American hard court season attempting to defend their title at the 2016 Rogers Cup. However, they were beaten in the quarter-finals by
Florin Mergea Florin Mergea (; born 26 January 1985) is a Romanian tennis player and a doubles specialist. He has reached the final of the ATP World Tour Finals in 2015 and won an ATP Masters title at the Mutua Madrid Open earlier that year. He achieved a c ...
and
Horia Tecău Horia Tecău (; born January 19, 1985) is a Romanian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. He is a three-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Wimbledon Championships and 2017 US Open alongside Jean-Julien Roje ...
. The brothers withdrew from the Rio Olympics because of concerns over the zica virus. The twins reached the semi-finals of the 2016 Western & Southern Open where they were defeated by
Jean-Julien Rojer Jean-Julien Rojer (; ; born 25 August 1981) is a Dutch professional tennis player from Curaçao, who specialises in doubles. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in November 2015. He is a four-time Grand Slam champion, hav ...
and
Horia Tecău Horia Tecău (; born January 19, 1985) is a Romanian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. He is a three-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Wimbledon Championships and 2017 US Open alongside Jean-Julien Roje ...
. The Bryans were defeated in the quarter-finals of the 2016 US Open by Feliciano López and Marc López, in the last match ever played at the old
Louis Armstrong Stadium Louis Armstrong Stadium is a 14,000-seat tennis stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, one of the venues of the US Open. It opened for the 2018 US Open as a replacement for the 1978 stadium of the same n ...
.


2019–2020: Retirement

On November 13, 2019, the brothers announced that they would retire from professional tennis after the 2020 season, concluding with the US Open. The Bryans ultimately retired a fortnight earlier than expected, due to the negative
impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Impac ...
of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
on the North American hardcourt swing.


Performance timeline


Parents

The Bryan brothers' mother, Kathy Bryan (née Blake), is a former women's circuit player. She is a four-time participant at Wimbledon and made the mixed doubles quarter-finals in 1965. She still teaches tennis. Their father, Wayne, is a lawyer, musician, and tennis instructor. Both their parents are involved in various ATP Kids' Days and clinics on tour.


Personal life

The Bryan brothers are identical twins born on April 29, 1978, with Mike the elder by two minutes. Mike is 6'3" and right-handed. Bob is 6'4" and left-handed. In their early days as junior players, they were forbidden to play each other in tournaments by their parents. If they were set to play each other in a tournament, they would alternate defaulting to the other. They graduated from
Rio Mesa High School Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
in
Oxnard, California Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west ...
in 1996 and attended Stanford University (1996–98). In 1998, Bob became the first player since
Alex O'Brien Alex O'Brien (born ) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. He gained the top ranking in May 2000 and was ranked as high as world No. 30 in singles in June 1997. He won his only singles title at New Haven, Connecticut, in 199 ...
in 1992 to win the college "Triple Crown" of NCAA singles, doubles (with Mike) and team titles. Both Bob and Mike are members of
Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...
.


Marriages

* Bob married Michelle Alvarez in December 2010; the couple resides in
Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Sunny Isles Beach (SIB, officially the City of Sunny Isles Beach) is a city located on a barrier island in northeast Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Intracoastal Waterway on ...
, with their three children. * Mike is married to Nadia Murgasova, with whom he has a son, born in 2020.


Grand Slam finals


As a team


Doubles: 30 (16 titles, 14 runner-ups)


Bob individually


Mixed doubles: 9 (7 titles, 2 runner-ups)


Mike individually


Men's doubles: 2 (2 titles)


Mixed doubles: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner-ups)


Other significant finals


Year–end championships


Doubles: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner-ups)


Mike individually


Doubles: 1 (1 title)


ATP Masters 1000 finals


Doubles: 59 (39 titles, 20 runner-ups)


Olympic and Pan Am Games medals as a team


Doubles: 3 (1 gold medal, 2 bronze medals)


Mike individually


Mixed doubles: 1 (1 bronze medal)


Team competition finals


Team: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)


ATP career finals


As a team


Doubles: 178 (119 titles, 59 runner-ups)


Mike individually


Doubles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runner-ups)


Davis Cup record


As a team (25–5)


Bob & Mike individually


Notes


References


External links

*
Profile
on the 60 Minutes
news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or n ...
broadcast March 21, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryan, Bob And Mike 1978 births Living people American male tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions French Open champions Olympic gold medalists for the United States in tennis Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in tennis People from Camarillo, California Sibling duos Stanford Cardinal men's tennis players Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Tennis people from California American twins US Open (tennis) champions Wimbledon champions Tennis doubles teams Twin sportspeople Sportspeople from Ventura County, California American identical twins Identical twin males