Twins’ fame began at home
Bryans’ parents helped to build doubles dynasty
LONDON — When Bob and Mike Bryan take the court for one of their doubles matches at Wimbledon this week, they might smile and tell each other they have played on better grass than this at home. Because they have. As rightfully proud as the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is of its manicured green stuff, it would be hard pressed to top the backyard on Ramona Drive in Camarillo, Calif.
“Sure, they’ve hit on this,” says father Wayne while showing a guest around. “We’ve had a net up here. The bounce is true, perfect.”
The Bryan brothers no longer need their dad’s agronomist skills. They could play on volcanic ash and win. They are 37-yearold twins who have been, almost without question, the best at what they do since 2003, and show no signs of slowing up.
Hard to quit when you are No. 1, after all.
They lost at Wimbledon last year in as exciting a doubles match as you’ll see, and they are expecting to be in the mix this year to win yet another Grand Slam title. They already have 16, including three Wimbledons.
Also showing no signs of slowing down is their 68year-old father. In the tennis world, he is the energiz- er bunny.
He has a law degree but never practiced. Lucky for the other side, which wouldn’t have been able to get in a word.
He owned and operated the Cabrillo Tennis Club in Point Loma for 26 years. And, along with wife Kathy, a former top player herself with four Wimbledon appearances, taught and raised the hands-down best doubles team ever to play the game.
“People always talk about me with the boys,” Bryan says, “but it was their mother who got them started.”
Whoever gets the credit, here’s what the Bryans created and developed, a doubles team that:
■ Has made 158 pro finals and won 106 of them;
■ Since 2003, has been ranked No. 1 in the world every year but two and was No. 2 in 2004 and 2008;
■ Has been in 26 Grand Slam finals, winning six Australian Opens, two French Opens and five U.S. Opens to go with those three Wimbledons;
■ Has had a role in 11 more major titles, Bob taking seven mixed doubles and Mike four;
■ Never has won fewer than five tour events in any year since 2002. They have three this year;
■ Has won an Olympic gold medal (London 2012), a Davis Cup and a Golden Slam (taking the next four majors after the Olympic gold).
■ Has earned about $13 million each on tour; or, for perspective, each a bit more than either John McEnroe or Jimmy Connors.
There is so much more. A book of Bryan brothers stats would be the tennis equivalent of War and Peace.
They were reared without the benefit — or perhaps with the benefit — of no TV.
“When we wanted to see something, like a big game or an important event like the ‘Roots’ series,” Wayne Bryan says, “we showered and went to a neighbor’s house.”
He never wavered on his approach to parenting.
“The 18 years that you have your kids under your roof,” he says, “sets up their entire life.”
The Bryan brothers rose through the national ranks, dominating in juniors. They often ended up scheduled for matches against each other in singles, and their parents set up a system in which that seldom took place. They alternated defaulting to each other.
“That happened hundreds of times,” Wayne says.
Between ages 16 and 18, the 16 times they played each other, the outcomes were similar to the identi- cal way in which they do everything: gestures, facial reactions, mannerisms. Each won eight times. Now, the tennis goals that 10-year-old twin brothers put on the refrigerator in the house on Ramona Drive in Camarillo have all been met. All the Grand Slams, Davis Cups, Olympic gold medals and No. 1s have been achieved.
But the memory of Jack Sock’s rifled forehand that split the twins and converted match point in the final last year remains vivid. And so, there will be more Bryan brothers grass-hopping across over the next two weeks, while Wayne and Kathy Bryan pace and bite their fingernails from afar, having cut back on travel.
That doesn’t mean Wayne will sit in a quiet corner, tracking Wimbledon results on his phone. He is about as sedentary as a 2-month-old puppy.
But more immediate on his agenda last week was grass — that precious backyard, the manicured plot where twins once pretended they were at Wimbledon.
Where, now, they are.