By spring 2003, the Bryan brothers had won nine titles together and established themselves as one of the best doubles teams in the world.
“We’d beaten a lot of top teams,” recalls Mike, “but we were still looking for that breakthrough.”
There’d also been frustration. At Indian Wells, the prestigious tournament based in their native Southern California, Bob had served for the title, but the Bryans had ended up losing. Another tough loss came at the next tour stop, in the semis of Miami.
“We weren’t closing the door on matches,” says Bob. “We’d be up a break and go into cruise control mode. We had those heartbreaking losses. It was brutal.”
Things came to a head soon after. Practicing at Sherwood Country Club, a facility just east of their home base in Camarillo, the twins felt edgy. All the pressure of expectations—big titles, Grand Slams, Davis Cup—expressed itself.
“We had a bad twin practice where we got on each other’s nerves,” says Mike. Someone got hit with a ball, and from there matters escalated.
“And we just lost it on each other,” says Bob. It was quite a sight, two young men wrestling on the lawns of a subdued country club.
