If you ever saw Bob and Mike Bryan on the tennis court, you’ll remember that they were double trouble.
“Opponents described us as like a two-headed monster,” said Mike in an interview with CNN Sports.
Dominating men’s doubles for the best part of two decades, they were a dream partnership, identical “mirror” twins who were so in sync that they seemed to be reading each other’s minds. A lefty and a righty playing side by side, they became the most successful men’s doubles partnership of all time, winning 119 titles together, a haul that included 16 grand slams – including five US Opens – and an Olympic gold medal.
It was an enviable relationship which has led them all the way to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, but on the eve of their induction in Newport, Rhode Island, they admitted that their partnership wasn’t always so harmonious. “We had our blowouts,” recalled Bob to CNN. “Sometimes, it got physical on the court or after matches.”
That would be an understatement, as the brothers revealed what really went on away from the cameras and the cheering crowds. “I remember breaking one of Mike’s guitars,” said Bob, adding: “It got physical one time in Madrid where he threw some glass vitamins at me, bottles of vitamins that were shattering.”
The brothers in arms were sometimes brothers at arms, but no matter how ugly it might have been away from the court, it seemed as though nothing could break their winning spirit.
“We had one at Wimbledon,” recalled Mike, “we’re driving back in the car from the match that we had won. We were discussing the match, things were said, and some finger pointing, and then all of a sudden, one punch was thrown, and then the car is just shaking.
“It was like MMA in the backseat, and the driver’s swerving across the road in London. But it’s funny, like, that was a nasty fight, but we went on to win the tournament.”
“We had this unbreakable bond,” Bob added, “It could get violent at times, but we’d be having dinner two minutes later. We share the same DNA, when you’re a twin, you’re never really looking for greener pastures, I wasn’t looking for another partner, Mike was my guy.”
Mike agrees that their special relationship gave them a rare degree of latitude whenever they needed to blow off steam: “Most normal people would never talk to that person again for the rest of their lives, but that’s just the weird thing about twins, you move on somehow.”
From 1998 until their retirement in 2020, the Bryans fought their way to the top of their game and clocked a record 438 weeks on top of the world rankings.
“Everyone can hit serves and returns and volleys,” Mike explained of their success, “but it’s that special ingredient, something that you really can’t see, that connection with your partner.
“We had the ultimate bond, this twin energy. When we watched some of the matches back, eerily, we’re moving exactly in sync, covering for one another. There’s some unspoken special force happening and that’s what really separated us from the pack.”
For the first 10 years of their professional career, the brothers were inseparable, almost quite literally. They shared a room on tour, ate together, practiced together and even played together in their band.
“The whole day would be pretty much together, that’s a lot of hours with one person,” Mike said. “We even shared a bank account and a house. We were truly a package deal. Most teams only last five or six years together, but we had this unconditional love for each other, and I never really got sick of the guy!”
Having played their first tournament together at the age of 6, the Bryans estimate that they had played thousands of matches by the time they called time on their careers near the beginning of the Covid pandemic in 2020.
Having revolutionized the game, they unwittingly gave their opponents a helping hand in their twilight years when they released a video with some of their tips. “Everyone watched it,” said Mike. “That next year, it was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re playing against the Bryan brothers,’ everyone had our secret sauce. I wasn’t smart to do that, Bob.”
But no amount of practice by their rivals could replicate what the brothers had going on between them, a kind of unexplained telepathy. Bob told CNN Sports of the time they independently went furniture shopping on opposite sides of the country, unwittingly making exactly the same purchase at the same store.
“I was in Florida. Mike was in California, and he called me, and he said, ‘Hey, check out this couch I bought,’ he just got it from Pottery Barn or something. And I’d gone couch shopping the same day and bought the exact same couch,” Bob said. “I was sitting on the same couch at the same time. And that was the only time I’ve been couch shopping, probably the same for Mike. That’s when we knew we had something freaky going on!”
Bob and Mike could never have imagined that their careers would end up in the Tennis Hall of Fame, an elite club numbering less than 300 of the game’s highest achievers; Maria Sharapova joins them in the class of 2025.
Bob admits that the Hall isn’t something they ever put on their list of goals, and Mike understands they are now joining something that is so much bigger than themselves: “It’s going to be an emotional day, it’s really the ultimate honor in tennis, so we’re humbled and grateful.”
Now 47 years old and with families and kids, they don’t see as much of each other as they used to, but they still catch up on the phone multiple times every day. There is talk that they might yet move to be closer to each other in Florida.
They’re still involved in tennis, Bob is captain of the US Davis Cup team, Mike is a coach, and they still get together to play in the old guy’s division at Wimbledon every year. “We’re undefeated in retirement,” brags Bob.
Some things never change, although hopefully now they’re able to sit back in peace and enjoy the ride back to the hotel.
