Bryan brothers

The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, 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 twins", 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 and Viktor Troicki in the quarter finals of the 2016 Erste Bank Open, in Vienna, Austria. Following their triumph at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, 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 (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 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 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 of tennis.
*Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.

Professional awards

* ITF World Champion: 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 – 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) for elementary and junior high school, then Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, California. They had an outstanding junior career, winning well over a hundred junior doubles titles together. They won the 1991 USTA 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 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 in the final. The Bryans then won the 1996 US Open junior boys' doubles title, defeating Daniele Bracciali 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, 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 team title both years. They won the NCAA doubles title in 1998, defeating Kelly Gullet and Robert Lindstedt of Pepperdine University 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 debut at the 1995 US Open, where they lost in the first round to Grant Connell and Patrick Galbraith. Their first tour win came in 1998, at the ATP Washington, D.C. and won two Challenger tournaments, at Aptos and Burbank.

In 1999, the twins reached their first ATP final at Orlando, falling in the finals to Jim Courier and Todd Woodbridge. They reached the semi-finals at Scottsdale, and the quarter-finals at Indian Wells and Key Biscayne. The brothers were successful on the Challenger Circuit, winning three tournaments (Amarillo, Birmingham, 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). 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, Burbank and Rancho Mirage.

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, Queen's Club, Newport, Los Angeles) in five finals (were finalists at Washington losing to Martin Damm and David Prinosil). The first ATP doubles title came at Memphis, by defeating Alex O'Brien and Jonathan Stark in the final. They became the first brothers combination to win four titles in a season ( Tim and Tom Gullikson

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