BRYAN BROTHERS STAGE ANOTHER COMEBACK TO WIN TITLE AND SAVE THE DAY AT WORLD TOUR FINALS BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 16th November 2014

BRYAN BROTHERS STAGE ANOTHER COMEBACK TO WIN TITLE AND SAVE THE DAY AT WORLD TOUR FINALS BY RICKY DIMON

epa04492436 Doubles partners Mike Bryan and Bob (L) Bob Bryan from the USA lift the ATP Tour Finals doubles winners trophy after beating Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in the doubles final of ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 16 November 2014. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Doubles at the World Tour Finals stole the show all the week, aside from a Saturday night singles semifinal thriller between Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. So what transpired on Sunday was a fitting end to 2014’s last tournament. Federer was forced to withdraw from the singles final against Novak Djokovic, but the doubles title match delivered.

Bob and Mike Bryan won their fourth year-end championship in their sixth final of the event when they overcame Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-7 on Sunday afternoon in London. The brothers needed to erase yet another deficit in order to capture their 103rd career title as a team and 10th this season.

Marcelo Melo (L) of Brazil and Ivan Dodig of Croatia in action against Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan of the US in the doubles final of ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 16 November 2014. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

Comebacks were the theme all week long for the world No. 1 duo. Bob and Mike lost their first round-robin match to Lukasz Kubot and Robert Lindstedt, thus becoming the first team since themselves in 2009 to drop its opener and go on to lift the trophy. The Bryans also trailed by a set and 4-0 in the super-tiebreaker in their second tilt against Jean-Julien Roger and Horia Tecau.

“I’m happy the way we hung tough,” Mike said. “In our second round-robin match, we were down 4‑0 in the third‑set ‘breaker. Could have easily been knocked out there. You need a little bit of luck. It went our way this week. What can I say? It feels really satisfying to end the year on a high.”

When they surrendered the opening set to Dodig and Melo, it was nothing new. The Americans promptly delivered a near-flawless second frame of play, during which they committed a mere one double-fault. Set two arguably featured the point of the tournament, when a long exchange ended with Bob hitting a tweener lob over Dodig before the Croat answered with a tweener of his own, which Mike crushed with an overhead that Melo could not handle.

“The drive tweener doesn’t work in doubles,” Bob commented. “Guys are on top of the net. The (lob) tweener is the more successful option, I think.”

The Bryan brothers broke Melo twice in the second before finally solving Dodig’s serve in the ‘breaker. Having failed to break Dodig all day, they won all four of his service points in the decider.

Mike Bryan (L) and Bob Bryan of the United States celebrate winning their round robin doubles match against Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil for ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 14 November 2014. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

“This is considered the fifth slam, with the top eight teams in the world,” Mike explained. “To lose our first match and bounce back, barely qualify for the semifinals, win today, was a great feeling.

“Looking back at the year, we’re very proud of the way it went. If we had to pick one highlight during this great season, it would probably have to be the U.S. Open. It was just a milestone we were shooting for. One of our big goals coming in the year is to try to hit 100 titles. We did it luckily at our home Grand Slam when there was a lot of talk about it.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Editors Note : many of us here @10sballs.com have known the Bryan brothers forever. It’s truly been a great ride. We’ve sat with Coach Kathy (mom) and coach David MacPherson (10 years) many times. We were all shedding the usual tears of joy. Yes they are in all of our eyes almost from the start but by the end we are all dripping in them. The players box look like it needs a mopping up. We are proud of their achievements on and off the court. They are great ambassadors for our sport. Check out their foundation. They have heaps of really cool memorabilia up for sale or auction for various charities.

Doubles in general was the highlight of the week. It was truly the STAR! But that’s thanks to Chris Kermode again who scheduled dubs as the opening day session and night session. It’s an warm up. Opening act.

Best Single match of tourney was the Federer / Murray. It was a BAGEL with A Smear ( 6-0,6-1)

( that’s an original line developed by Lovey / just going on record )

Topics: ATP World Tour Finals, Bryan Brothers, Ricky Dimon, tennis doubles

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10sBalls_com says:

November 16, 2014 at 4:02 pm

#BRYANBROTHERS STAGE ANOTHER COMEBACK TO WIN TITLE AND SAVE THE DAY AT #WorldTourFinals BY @RD_Tennistalk http://t.co/8RAURMZFSF @Bryanbros
RD_Tennistalk says:

November 16, 2014 at 4:06 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: #BRYANBROTHERS STAGE ANOTHER COMEBACK TO WIN TITLE AND SAVE THE DAY AT #WorldTourFinals BY @RD_Tennistalk http://t.co/8RA…
TasteofTennisAU says:

November 16, 2014 at 4:10 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: #BRYANBROTHERS STAGE ANOTHER COMEBACK TO WIN TITLE AND SAVE THE DAY AT #WorldTourFinals BY @RD_Tennistalk http://t.co/8RA…
aysworld says:

November 16, 2014 at 4:11 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: #BRYANBROTHERS STAGE ANOTHER COMEBACK TO WIN TITLE AND SAVE THE DAY AT #WorldTourFinals BY @RD_Tennistalk http://t.co/8RA…