The Bryan brothers slightly altered their regular postwin celebration Sunday, which was fine because it wasn’t just a regular win.
At a court they call home, Mike and Bob Bryan, the twins from nearby Camarillo, defeated Jean-Julien Rojer and Eric Butorac, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 10-7, Sunday in the doubles final of the Farmers Classic.
In the process of winning its 62nd title, the duo broke the much-celebrated record of most ATP doubles team titles, previously held by the Australian duo of Mark Woodforde and Tom Woodbridge, affectionately named “The Woodies.”
Well-known for their chest bumps after closing out big wins, the Bryans were a bit more enthusiastic Sunday. After Mike put away match point on an overhead smash, he and Bob both dropped their rackets, with Mike jumping into his brother’s arms.
The Bryans got to accomplish the monumental feat at a venue that certainly felt like home to them. Their father, Wayne Bryan, was the emcee of the tournament all week, while their mother and all four of their grandparents watched them in action Sunday.
“This is a storybook ending for us, to break this record,” said Bob Bryan, who added that “it was like Thanksgiving” with the large number of family members in attendance.
The Bryans’ friends and family, who packed the lower level of Straus Stadium, had to hold their breath before seeing the brothers hoist the trophy. The Bryans dropped a set for the first time all tournament after losing the first set tiebreaker 8-6, despite holding set point on Rojer and Butorac.
“The doubts were creeping in,” Mike Bryan said. “When you’re nervous and you’re not capitalizing on some of those break points, and you’re throwing in a few (double faults), you just wonder, ‘Am I ever going to get it? If we can’t get it in L.A. with all our fans, maybe we’ll never get it.’”
The second set wasn’t all that smooth, either. The teams traded breaks twice, but the Bryans broke at 4-2 to give themselves the lead for good. Rojer and Butorac failed to hold serve once in the set.
In the match tiebreaker the brothers jumped out to a huge 5-0 lead before being drawn even at 7-all. But that was as close as Rojer and Butorac would get. The twins took the next three points to get to 10, and the celebrations started among the crowd.
“It kind of just hit us during the match, the legs kind of just went soft,” Mike Bryan said of the way they performed on the court. “We didn’t play our best match, but we did when we needed to. Now, it’s sweet.”
It was the end to a somewhat surprising run for Rojer ““ a two-time All-American who played at UCLA from 2000 to 2002 ““ and Butorac, who were playing as a team for the very first time.
Win or lose Sunday, it has been a well-established fact that the Bryans ““ who reached their 100th final with their win over Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi on Saturday ““ have made their mark on the sport. “The Woodies” were inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in June; Mike and Bob Bryan could very well see their names join “The Woodies” as soon as they decide to hang up the sneakers.
“We never thought we’d be this consistent, this healthy, our whole career,” Bob Bryan said. “Sixty-one (titles) looked like it was on the other side of the moon.”