TENNIS US OPEN – 7th of September 2014. B. Bryan/M. Bryan d. M. Granollers/M. Lopez 6-3, 6-4. An interview with Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan
Q. What are your feelings hitting 100? Sum it up for us.
BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, it’s amazing relief, you know, ecstacy. You know, I was having flashbacks to my whole career towards the end of that match. It was wild. I was thinking juniors, college. It was an incredible moment. I was trying to stay in the moment, but it was impossible. I mean, this number right here, we have really been looking at for a couple of years. Greg wrote that story three months ago when we hit 98. I told him, Just hold off. We’re not even to 99. He burned us for a few months. (Smiling.) But, you know, there are so many things that go along with this US Open title. We were really just trying to win the title. Then you got the 100, the ten years with the slam, first slam of the year. Yeah, our fifth Open, there is no words to describe it.
Q. Better than you imagined it?
BOB BRYAN: Yeah.
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, it’s always sweet winning a Grand Slam. This just adds some extra whip cream and cherries and nuts on top. To win a slam for the 10th consecutive year, that was kind of in the back of our heads, too. I mean, it was just great. We went out there and played a good match. We do get nervous. I think it was something like our 27th Grand Slam final. It feels like it was our first. You know, we were jittery. Tough to eat, tough to sleep. You know, but we kind of rose above it. I thought it was kind of our best match of the tournament against a really tough team that posed a lot of challenges. I think it helped having two days off to practice for that specific team, because they play like no other team out there. They are so close to the net. They have great groundstrokes. We had some good strategies to counteract that. Yeah, as Bob said, it was kind of like ecstacy. Right when the match finished it was a relief. So much emotions. I don’t think we have ever done this kind of dirty dancing swan dive. That was a first. (Laughter.)
BOB BRYAN: You felt light as a feather. (Laughter.)
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah.
Q. Was that dirty dancing move a miscommunicated…
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, it was a miscommunicated chest bump. I went for it; Bob didn’t lift off.
BOB BRYAN: It gets ugly sometimes.
MIKE BRYAN: I remember Charleston. We won a big Davis Cup match. We both went in for the hug in the air. That doesn’t work out. Dangerous. So dangerous if you hug in the air and you have to come down together. Yeah, you never know. I mean, that just was a great feeling winning that match point, just getting over the finish line there.
BOB BRYAN: Hell, yeah, it was.
Q. It’s been quite a journey. Take us into the flashbacks.
BOB BRYAN: Hitting our first balls at the club, playing our first tournament at age six. Saw that. Yeah, I mean, Kalamazoo when we were — it’s all relative. We were just as Jacked to win Kalamazoo as we are here to get 100. You know, same thing with the NCAAs. I slept with that NCAA trophy in my bed for a night. To win that first slam, I remember flying over the English Channel to Queen’s, and I was most scared I have ever been that the plane was gonna crash. It’s like, We have done it, and now I’m going to go down in a ball of flames for some reason. I just want to enjoy this for a little bit.
MIKE BRYAN: There was some nasty turbulence.
BOB BRYAN: Incredible turbulence. Obviously the Davis Cup was — it’s been a really storybook career, and this is kind of a cap, you know, right on top. Just neat little bow on this career.
Q. What was the first one when you were six?
BOB BRYAN: Lake Lindero.
MIKE BRYAN: 1985, novice tournament. Met in the finals of the singles and won the doubles. Took home four trophies. I think we might have slept with that trophy, too.
BOB BRYAN: Hell, yeah. We did.
Q. Where are your parents today?
MIKE BRYAN: They were at home watching it. They don’t like to watch it live. They watch the scores tick. Sometimes they get too nervous. Like during our Wimbledon final they went on a drive to Santa Barbara an hour away. Drove up; drove back. Got home, checked the scores, and we lost.
BOB BRYAN: Once we start going later in the tournaments we start losing touch with people. We’re not calling our parents anymore. I haven’t really talked to them. Usually we’re FaceTiming with the kids and, you know, your mind just starts focusing on that prize, you know, and you don’t want to talk about too much stuff. So now after all this is released we’ll call them and really enjoy a nice conversation. I’ll see my dad at Davis Cup. But, yeah, you’re in that crazy focus mode.
MIKE BRYAN: For two weeks.
BOB BRYAN: For two weeks. Finally just get to laugh again.
MIKE BRYAN: Be a person again.
Q. So two things? Obviously this is an amazing symmetry to winning here. Do you believe in karma? Secondly, you have won so much and many places through all these years. You said a moment ago that Kalamazoo felt the same. Do qualities of wins of these feel different or not really?
MIKE BRYAN: I think we do believe in a little bit of karma, but sometimes there is no fairytale ending. Last year we were going for the slam. That would have been really nice. We have also lost 11 Grand Slam finals, which every one stings; four or five days Davis Cup matches. This one has been cool. I mean, it’s been kind of good karma to win the gold medal. And as Bob said, like Kalamazoo and US Open juniors and NCAAs, it just seems like we have hit every milestone and step along the way. So I don’t know. It does feel like we have good karma. We pick up trash when we see litter on the street.
BOB BRYAN: Try to sign every autograph, you know, and take pictures, selfies. You’re hoping that’s gonna add up to something.
Q. Do you ever just hit yourself and say, Is this for real? How do you maintain being who you are with the success that you have had? Because I want to applaud you on that. (Applause.)
MIKE BRYAN: Thank you.
BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I mean.
Q. So how do you do that?
BOB BRYAN: It feels great to be recognized and to achieve something great in a sport you have dedicated your life to. We have sacrificed everything since two, three years old; didn’t feel like we were sacrificing because we were having so much fun at a young age. As you mature and look back you say, Gee, I didn’t go to my high school program. I had one sip of alcohol pretty much my whole life. That’s unusual, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I mean, we got everything. I got three incredible trophies over there sitting over your right shoulder: Michelle, Micaela, and Bobby Junior. That puts a smile on my face every day. I think that also made it easier to play well in this incredible, huge moment knowing I already had that in my back pocket.
Q. And you share all this with Wayne and Kathy, of course. How special is that to have them be in the game with you?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, they are the two most supportive parents kids could ask for. We got really positive parents, and they are always with us in our toughest moments. We have said a million times before, when we lose our match we go check our e-mail right away. Our e-mails are already in there with everything we have done in our career, and he takes losses just as hard as we do. It’s pretty amazing. They are the first people we call after wins, and they have been with us every step of the way. Countless hours. My mom fed us a million balls. Dad took us to tournaments. Couldn’t have done it without them. We had a happy tennis family. We’re still closer now than we have ever been.
Q. I was talking to guys work with Team Bryan, and they emphasize how much you give back working with their kids and programs, as well. Where do you guys get the energy, and what’s your philosophy about giving so much back, which you continue to do even though you have won everything?
BOB BRYAN: Our dad instilled that in us, doing so many clinics, inspirational speeches, and we were always traveling around with him as kind of the show ponies. We do drills. You know, the Jensens were one of our big idols and they gave back more than anyone and signed every autograph. And then Agassi set a great example for all the young Americans to set up their foundations and raise money for good causes. As we get older, we’re really trying harder to raise more money and do good in this game. You know, you mature and you start to see the good you can do and the impact you can make on the youth. We’ll start shifting our focus more to the foundation as our career winds down. Yeah, our dad, the Jensens, Agassi, they are all great role models for that.
