Bryan brothers have double the fun

PARIS -- There's an old tennis story about a German player named Karl Meiler. Meiler seemingly lost to Tom Gullikson twice in the span of a month. As he retreated to the locker room following the second meeting, Meiler shook his head in awe. "Man, that guy Gullikson is good," Meiler said in disbelief. "He beat me a few weeks ago with one hand and he beat me today with his opposite hand!"

You're unlikely to hear such a story about tennis' current twin billing, Bob and Mike Bryan. It's not that they don't look alike -- they do, so much so that when they recently took the podium for a postmatch press conference, organizers hastily printed cards reading "Bob" and "Mike." Like the Gulliksons, one Bryan (Bob) is a lefty while the other (Mike) is a righty. But the thing is, the Bryans so rarely are apart that it's impossible not to know there are two of them.

They dress alike, eat together, even have a common e-mail address. Now they share something else: a Grand Slam doubles title. On Saturday they stood on the same side of the net and knocked off Paul Haarhuis and a surly Yevgeny Kafelinkov to win the biggest tournament of their career. (And you thought Americans couldn't win on clay.) "We wanted this one so bad," said Bob. "It just feels great, but it hasn't sunken in yet."

Courtesy of Wayne Bryan

The Bryans may have overtaken "the Gullies" as the most successful sibling doubles team, but they feel a deep sense of gratitude to Tom Gullikson and his late brother Tim. Both Bryans have the word "Tim" scrawled on their shoes, and they dedicated this championship to the original twin tandem. When the Bryans were young, the Gulliksons came to their hometown of Camarillo, Calif., and the sets of brothers have had a bond ever since. "Tom always says that twins should stick together," Mike said. "I don't know, it's emotional."

Bob and Mike unmistakably have that twin thing going on. Even more so than other doubles pairings, they have a near-telepathic sense of what the other is going to do and what shot he is going to play. Their games nicely complement one another. As a right-lefty team, they can both hit forehand returns; they give the opposition different looks on their service games; and both volley exceptionally well.

For whatever reason -- and a doctoral thesis probably can be found in here somewhere -- the Bryans' biggest problems have been mental. On talent alone, they may well be the best team in the world, but before Saturday they had yet to break through, losing numerous close matches. In the final of Indian Wells, they were up 6-3, 5-3 to Kafelnikov and Wayne Ferreira before falling. (Their irrepressible father, Wayne, was on another court introducing other players, and the twins blamed that loss on "the curse of Dad.")

In the French final a few nerves were in evidence, but the Bryans played well in a first-set tiebreak, broke their opponents late in the second set, and then cruised home. "It was all about executing," said Mike. "We knew we could do it but we just had to prove it. That's what we did today."

The success of the Bryans makes their absence from recent Davis Cup teams all the more conspicuous. U.S. captain Pat McEnroe has made it clear that he wants versatile players and is skeptical of doubles experts who have little chance of winning singles matches. (Playing solo, Bob is No. 200 in the ATP Champions Race while Mike, at least according to the ATP Web site, has no ranking.) But it's getting harder and harder to justify leaving home two guys who are a virtual shoo-in to win the all-important doubles point. Fortunately for them, their win at Roland Garros counts toward an Olympic berth, which will be determined by points. "We're lucky that you can earn your way in instead of having someone pick the team," said Mike, taking a not-so-subtle swipe at McEnroe. "I see that goal right now as one of the top ones."

The surface notwithstanding, the French Open title was unexpected for other reasons. The twins recently parted ways with their long-time coach, Craig Edwards. Their new coach, Philip Farmer, has only been on the job for a few weeks. Also, the day before they left for Europe, Mike hit Bob in the neck with a forehand. Bob then threw his racket and hit Mike in the back. "I'm like, OK, this is not going to be a good trip," said Mike. But it wasn't their first fight and it won't be their last. "We have that advantage that when we get on the court, we bring our twin energy together," said Mike. "No one can split that up."

So the Two Musketeers will head to grass and try to build on their success in Paris. As they left Roland Garros, you could picture them knocking knuckles and saying, in unison of course, "Wonder Twin powers, activate. Form of: a Wimbledon title."

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim is in Paris covering the French Open for the magazine and will file regular reports from Roland Garros. Click here to send a question or comment to his Tennis Mailbag.

 

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