RoastedLinuxBryan brothers eager to break records
August 29th 2008 00:15
Pure synchronisation - the Bryan brothers are after their first grand slam title this year
Not many doubles teams would complain about holding four doubles titles and the Olympic bronze medal coming into the 2008 US Open, and Bob and Mike Bryan aren't about to crush themselves.
But 2008 has been an up-and-down year for the twins, who haven't won a major and have dropped to No. 2 in the world rankings.
The Bryans are now 30 years old, a relatively young age for doubles players, who don't develop the same wear and tear on their bodies that singles players do. But the Bryans are chasing history, or more specifically, the Woodies, Todd Woodbridge-Mark Woodforde, who own the most overall doubles crowns with 61.
The high-flying brothers recently clinched their 48th title at the ATP Masters Series Cincinnati, which surely puts them within sight of their goal, which perhaps could be accomplished in 2010.
They were slightly disappointed not to have won the Olympic gold (they lost to the phenomenal Swiss duo of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka in the semis) but sucked it up and won the bronze over France's Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra. They earned a medal for America, and that counted a great deal.
“It feels incredible,” the lefty Bob said. “Coming into the tournament, obviously, we wanted gold. I don't know. We probably would have been a little disappointed if we knew we were going to get third, he says.
But this feels unbelievable right now. To beat a great team like that, who has given us a lot of trouble, it's a really big moment for us. We're feeling very proud of ourselves right now.”
Mike added: “To come back and leave with an Olympic medal, help the U.S. totals, it's gonna be something really special to us to have that medal back at home."
The No. 2-seeded team behind Daniel Nestor/Nenad Zimonjic, the Bryans are looking to win their second US Open crown, having won their sole title in 2005.
This year, they've taken crowns at Miami, Barcelona, Rome and Cincinnati but haven't even reached a Grand Slam final. They fell at the Australian Open to Mark Knowles and Mahesh Bhupathi, to Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna at Roland Garros, and to Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett at Wimbledon.
The Bryans know that if they are going to earn their second US Open title, Bob is going to have to serve consistently huge, Mike is going to have to rip his returns, and they are both going to have to stick their volleys.
Their last Grand Slam title came at the 2007 Australian Open. But that's not going to put them down in the dumps. It might be just a matter of catching a break or two, and their confidence will return.
The Bryans have won five majors and own a career Grand Slam, were the year-end No. 1 team four straight years through 2007 and own a terrific 14-2 record in Davis Cup competition, helping lead the team to the title last year.
Doubles gets nowhere near the attention that singles does, but that's not the Bryans fault, as they are two of the sport's most engaging personalities and perhaps do more to promote tennis than any other players. It's hard to find a week of the year when they aren't playing a tournament, charity event or doing a clinic. They are the sons of two former pros, Wayne and Kathy, and were bred to love their sport.
But its not just promotion that gets the Southern Californians' juices flowing. They are all about winning and now are focusing on the history books.
“We're starting to think about the Woodies' record,” Mike said. “If we have the same year we had this year for the next two years (winning 10 titles or more), it's realistic.
We're still pretty young, and we feel like we're still improving. We're so much better than we were coming out of Stanford. Our communication has always been good, but now we serve bigger, return better, poach more effectively, play the big points well. We know what to eat, how much to sleep, how to play different types of opponents, what our schedule should be.”
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