By Bill Simons
The Bryan brothers won Wimbledon, which was their third straight Grand Slam title. They now hope to win the US Open and become the first-ever Open Era duo to capture the calendar Grand Slam in doubles. Life is sweet. But things haven’t always been completely saccharine. At Wimbledon, Bob and Mike opened up and told IT some troubling tales.
Mike recalled, “[At] our first Wimbledon, we made the round of 16. We played a three-day match against Alex O’Brien and Sebastien Lareau. We were young and chest bumping. Showing no respect for the older guys.
There were about 20 rain delays where we came back to the locker room. We were sitting right next to them. There were words said. They wanted to kill us, basically … [they called us] cocky punks.”
Bob added, “It was just the veterans giving the younger guys some heat. We deserved it. We were bouncing around and doing our thing. We were only 20 … Those rain delays made for really heated moments in a small locker room at the old Court 2 … [It] just kept going … and [we were] hearing OB [O’Brien] give us s—.”
Then the Brothers related the tale of their own storied fight in ’06. Mike remembered, “It was weird, because we won the match. Usually, you’re really happy after winning. We were in the car. I said, ‘You should have served a little better, Bob.’ He took it personally and said something about my forehand. Then I said something. It just got worse and worse. I just said, ‘I hate you,’ or something. Then he just gave me a little hit here, then I go there, and it erupted into a full-blown brawl.
Bob interjected, “We got our bags and you mule-kicked me in the stomach.”
“We’re walking up the stairs to our house,” continued Mike. “And Bob is behind me. So I give him one of those mule kicks and kick him up the stairs.”
“I ran up the stairs,” said Bob. “And then he slammed the bathroom door right in my face and locked it. I tried to kick it down but I couldn’t get through. I saw his shiny guitar. I picked it up and just splintered it. That felt good, and that was the end of it.”
Mike described an incredible, pivotal moment. “I heard that everything was quiet. So I go downstairs and he’s eating. I pull up a chair and start eating dinner too.”
Such is the redemptive power of brotherly love, which, come to think of it, is exactly why these “blood is thicker than water” siblings have lasted so long and are the best doubles team in history.
