CNN
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When you spend every moment of every day with another person – eating, sleeping, training, competing – it’s no wonder you develop a tremendous bond, let alone if you share the same DNA.
For Bob and Mike Bryan, their “twin energy” was central to their triumphs and titles on the tennis court, a synergy that only grew stronger as they traveled the world together for nearly 23 years. .
The Bryan brothers, as they have become known in the tennis community and beyond, announced their retirement from the sport in August 2020 as the most successful doubles team in history: 16 Grand Slam titles , 119 tour-level titles and 438 weeks at No. 1 in the world. 1.
Their partnership culminated in 2012 and 2013 when, virtually unstoppable, they won Olympic gold and all four major tournaments in the span of 12 months.
“When it was all flowing and we were really positive, it was a little weird – our feet were moving at the exact same time and we just knew where to be,” Mike told CNN Sport. “It was like a freight train once we got warm.”
This year’s French Open marks 20 years since the identical twins from California won their first Grand Slam title, though they made little sense at the time of the huge success that was to follow.
Instead, they focused on earning a spot on the USA Davis Cup team by impressing captain Patrick McEnroe at Roland Garros – which they duly did.
Their progress in the French Open doubles draw was swift and ruthless, with the brothers sweeping opponent after opponent in straight sets before a tantrum on the eve of the final nearly derailed their way to the title .
“At the time, you think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal and you never know if you’ll make it again,” Mike said, thinking back to the 2003 Roland-Garros campaign. was running through my head.”
Driven by adrenaline, they won the last 16 points of their final against Paul Haarhuis and Yevgeny Kafelnikov to claim a 7-6 6-3 victory, laying the foundations for the success that was soon to follow.
“We partied all night long,” says Bob. “We went straight from the club to I think it was a 9am photo op at the Arc de Triomphe with the trophies and the photos are unusable. That’s why you probably never saw it – because we were so tired.
While some tennis players alternate between singles and doubles formats, the Bryan brothers have dedicated their entire careers to doubles and have been unwavering in their commitment to one another.
It wasn’t until Bob, the older twin by minutes, had hip surgery in 2018 that Mike looked for another partner and won Wimbledon and the US Open alongside American Jack Sock. .
“We played together every day, lived together and spent every moment together,” says Mike. “It worked on the pitch – we were always on the same page and moving forward as one entity.
“We knew we were never going to break up. And that gave us that confidence too; you know you’re never going to turn your back on your brother and look for another partner.
Bob agrees that singles were never on the brothers’ radar.
“We always had more fun winning a doubles match, maybe it was a twin thing,” he told CNN Sport. “But even our sponsors put bonuses in our contracts that were tailored to doubles – they wanted us to go doubles. It came more naturally to us. »
With Bob a left-hander and Mike a right-hander, the pair were a natural choice on the tennis court, although unlike most left-right double partnerships, they tended to play backhand when returning serve – a change that they did before. of the 2003 French Open.
They have been almost inseparable throughout their professional career, even to the point of sharing a bank account. The tempers sometimes boiled over, especially during practices when they held each other to high standards.
“We trained each time as if we were playing a final,” says Mike. “Bob would pick on me if I missed a few balls and went after him, and we had tough practices. We had a few physical altercations, but it kept the quality extremely high.
“Actually, we would only do one-day practices because we were so hard at it. We completed a maximum of 90 minutes, but we didn’t even drink water. We probably only used two or three bullets and just went drill to drill to drill.
“At the end, we were just drenched in sweat. We trained like it was a grand final and he certainly didn’t let me slack off.
Although fiercely competitive, the brothers never lost sight of their role as entertainers. The chest bump — or Bryan’s bump, as the Stanford Daily called it back when they were in college — was their trademark after winning a tournament or a big point.
Feeding off the energy of the crowd, running, jumping and kicking their torsos together became an act of showmanship – an act they inherited from fellow USA doubles team Luke and Murphy Jensen.
The Jensen brothers, coincidentally, won their only Grand Slam title at the 1993 French Open, 10 years before the Bryans won their first.
“We started doing it at Stanford, and then we took it on tour,” Bob says of the origins of the lump on the Bryans’ chest.
“It wasn’t really welcome on the tour in those first two years because those salty veterans thought it was something out of disrespect to them.
“Honestly, we were just thrilled to be there and happy to be professionals traveling the world, and eventually it was accepted and became our thing.”
Since retiring ahead of the 2020 US Open, the brothers have enjoyed a slower pace of life. After spending 40 weeks a year on tour, they now have more time with their families and can devote themselves to another common passion: music.
Bob plays keyboard, Mike guitar and drums; together they performed in bars, clubs and even tennis tournaments as part of the Bryan Brothers Band.
“Our music rooms have grown,” says Bob, “and my kids are playing now, so I can play with them.”
This does not mean that tennis has disappeared from their lives. They still play legends events at Grand Slams, as well as the occasional exhibition tournament, and Bob was recently named USA Davis Cup captain ahead of this year’s event.
But the days of intense competition, fierce training sessions and high-flying chest bumps are behind them.
“Once you retire, it’s hard to turn the car back on after you turn it off,” says Bob.
“We knew we wanted to play for as long as we were there mentally and physically, and so when we retired we had no regrets.
“We both feel that we don’t have any unfulfilled dreams that we would have liked to accomplish during the tour. I think we felt like we invested everything we could into our careers.
