Twin brothers Mike and Bob Bryan are the No. 2 ranked men’s tennis doubles tandem in the world.
Mike is older than Bob by approximately two minutes. Bob, however, is taller than Mike by 3 centimeters. Mike plays right-handed and Bob, the opposite.
It’s stretching to find differences between the two.
The fact is, there are very few differences between the personality and demeanor of the two men making up one of the world’s best doubles duos, a fact that has undoubtedly contributed to their rise to the top of the tennis world by cementing their ability to work together as a team.
But if you were to talk to Mike and Bob ““ after you figure out who is who, considering they are the definition of “identical” ““ you would immediately notice that despite the seven Grand Slam doubles titles and more than 100 combined men’s doubles titles, they are essentially a couple of California dudes.
The hometown love was clearly evident in the way fans showed their appreciation for the twin 31-year-old Stanford University alumni, mobbing them at each available chance pre- and post-match at this year’s 2009 LA Tennis Open held on the UCLA campus over the past week.
Mike and Bob have a history with the LA Open. Although they have won the LA Open doubles championship on five separate occasions, the brothers remember their younger days when they worked the LA Open as ball boys, something that encouraged them to come back to this event each year.
“This is where we were ball kids; this is where we played hide and go seek when we were 6 years old,” Bob said after the brothers’ victory last Wednesday evening. “Obviously, the memories run really deep at this site and we just love it because all our friends and family can see us for one of the only times at this tournament.”
Mike said that although the brothers attended Stanford, a rival of UCLA, the Bryans have a significant nostalgic connection to the UCLA campus.
“This is our home court,” Mike said. “We’ve been playing here since we were 7 or 8 years old and we’ve had a lot of great memories here at UCLA. We won the Jr. Team Tennis championships and the NCAA (championships) here, and we’ve won four titles at the (LA Open).”
But it became evident that the Bryan brothers have a substantial fan base outside of friends and family, even though they attempt to downplay their rising popularity in the U.S.
“People know who we are in the U.S. at the tournaments, but we can also walk around and not get noticed,” Bob said. “But at the tournaments we feel like we’re well known and it feels good.”
In addition to being on top of the doubles heap in the tennis stratosphere, the Bryans have also conquered what is known as the career Grand Slam ““ they have won the title at the four major Grand Slam tournaments held each year. They have won the Australian Open three times, the US Open twice and the French Open and Wimbledon once each.
And although the Grand Slam is much more recognized if accomplished by an individual, they have a friend and idol in Andre Agassi, who also won the LA Open on four separate occasions and has accomplished the career Grand Slam.
The Bryans were eager to express their respect for Agassi and how he has motivated them to achieve what they have in the tennis world.
“We loved watching Andre and what he brought to the game,” Mike said. “He’s the best hitter of the ball I’ve ever seen and he is just a nice guy off the court. Growing up, we got his autograph so many times. We love the guy and he’s the one who inspired us to want to play.”
“He’s the guy who stands out as our idol,” Bob said.
Next up for the Bryans is the 2009 US Open, where they will enter as the defending champions and seek to capture their second-straight US Open and third overall.
As far as the future, the Bryans hope to continue to stay at the top of their game and, above all, continue to love what they do.
“We just want to keep doing what we’re doing because we love it,” Mike said. “It’s a great lifestyle and we’re having a ton of fun doing it.”