Bryan Brothers Continue Winning Streak

Written by: Staff on 8th July 2013

Bryan Brothers Continue Winning Streak

epa03778495 Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan return to Croat Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo of Brazil during the gentlemen's doubles final against for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 06 July 2013. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Bob and Mike Bryan completed a historic string of major victories when they beat Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the Wimbledon final.

But 14 years prior to that victory, in their first appearance at the All England Club they were not even close to the cool and composed team that won their 15^th Grand Slam title. Back at 1999 Wimbledon, they went up against the veteran duo of Alex O’Brien and Sebastien Lareau. The match seemed to go on forever, and in a tennis sense it did as it lasted three days due to rain. The twins went down 10-8 in the fifth set.

“We were chest bumping. We were young,” Mike said. “Showing no respect for the older guys. There were about 20 rain delays where we came back to the locker room. We were sitting right next to them. There were words said. They wanted to kill us basically.”

The left-handed Bob recalled they said, “Going to kill you. Mike said they also called them “cocky punks”.

“ It was just the veterans giving the younger guys some heat,” Bob said. “We deserved it. We were bouncing around and doing our thing. We were only 20 years old at the time.”

The Bryans have clearly matured a lot since then. Both of the 35 years olds are married, and own homes in California, Florida and London. Bob has a child and has plans for more. They said that since they returned from London last summer with Olympic hardware that the pressure has been off, which is possibly why they haven’t lost a match since March.

“It’s hard to even dream that we’d have the Slam, all four at one time,” said Mike. “It all started back after we won the gold. It just felt like a huge pressure was released. Went on to win the [US] Open and had a great summer. This year we’ve been on an amazing tear. Never had a streak like this. Especially at 35, I feel like we’re hitting our peak.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: American tennis news, Bob Bryan, Ivan Dodig, Marcelo Melo, Mike Bryan, Wimbledon Championships