BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Once again, with the U.S. in a delicate Davis Cup situation, the cry went out: Bring in the Bryans! After all, twins Mike and Bob Bryan entered today’s doubles match against Switzerland tied with John McEnroe and Peter Fleming in career Davis Cup wins (14-2), with plenty of tennis still left in their arms. And they came into the proverbial “swing match” toting a 7-1 record in ties deadlocked at one match apiece.
Bring in the Bryans, and boy, did they ever. In fact, there are almost as many Bryans here in Birmingham this weekend as there are Smiths in the Manhattan telephone directory. Shortly after they dispatched the Swiss team of Stan Wawrinka and Yves Allegro, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) to put the U.S. in a commanding position for tomorrow’s reverse singles, Bob Bryan told me that they had something like 60 Bryans in town, including an aunt Hortense. There’s dad (“Mr. Tennis, Wayne Bryan), paternal grandpa Carl (with grandma Alice), as well uncle Carl and his wife, aunt Shelley. And others. Many others. “I know there are a lot of them because we bought sixty tickets,” Bob told me. “It’s like a family reunion or something.”
And none of those Bryans left the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center disappointed today, as the Bryans trotted out the game they play best: straightforward, meat-and-potatoes, in-your-face-serving-and-volleying power tennis. The weak link for the Swiss was Allegro, who struggled getting out of the blocks and made life considerably harder for Wawrinka, who may be the best pro doubles player not to play doubles on regular basis – and he’s got a gold medal from the Beijing Olympic Games to prove it.
Allegro is a fine, versatile doubles player, but in today’s match, particularly in the early going, he seemed more bent on demonstrating his liabilities – limited power and a so-so serve. Not only did the Bryans always appear to know where the Allegro serve was going (enabling them to run around the backhand to powder forehand return), his lack of confidence (underscored by a handful of double faults) more or less demanded that he play it safe; too many of his deliveries, especially second serves, landed well inside the service box. In tennis these days, if you’re not leaving skidmarks on the lines, you’re in trouble.
By the time Allegro got over his flood of anxiety, the Swiss were down two sets to none, and the Bryans were galloping toward the horizon. But doubles is doubles: a frame winner here, a blown overhead there, and suddenly you’re back in a set. The Swiss did well to win the third set; in fact, they never led on either of the Bryans serves until they jumped to a 30-15 lead in the tenth game of that set, with Mike Bryan (the right-hander) serving.
The Swiss team kept it close after taking the set, forcing a tiebreaker where their fate was sealed when, ironically, Wawrinka lost his first two serves to put his squad down 0-3. If Allegro was the weakest player on the court, Bob Bryan was the strongest, thanks mostly to his lefty serve. He has a terrific motion and his smooth delivery ensures that he hits what they like to call “a heavy ball.” It helped the U.S. close out the tiebreaker (and match), 6-2.
So where do the Bryans stand in the grand scheme of doubles? I asked U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe, who was a fair doubles player himself when paired with Jim Grabb – but not quite as scary as his older brother, John, in harness with Peter Fleming.
“They’re (the Bryans) certainly right there at the top, if not on the top. What’s always impressed me about them, in addition to what they do on match day, is their preparation. Just how professional they are. How motivated they are to go out there and perform on Saturday. Those names – (Stan) Smith and (Bob) Lutz, (John) McEnroe and (Peter) Fleming, (Jim) Pugh and (Rick) Leach, (Ken) Flach and (Robert) Seguso…I mean, look, they’re surpassing those teams. And as I’ve told them many times, I hope it happens. I think they have a lot more years left, the way they take care of themselves, and take care of business, day in and day out.”
The Bryans reaction to the praise was, basically, “aw shucks…”
“We’re just plugging away,” Bob said, “I truly didn’t even know we were playing for the record today at all, I was very surprised when Gimel (Justin Gimelstob) said that after the match (Gimelstob told the crowd of the Bryans achievement).”
Okay, this “truly didn’t know” is truly unbelievable; but I guess Bob was just trying to strike the right note of humility. And at that point, showing a little humility was not such a terrible idea, given what Mike Bryan had said immediately after the match in the on-court interview.
Carried away by the moment and the riding the crest of the extraordinary camaraderie on the U.S. team, Mike “guaranteed” a win by the U.S. “closer,” Andy Roddick (he plays Wawrinka in the first of the reverse singles). This was not an idle boast: Roddick is 10-0 when he’s in a position to clinch a tie, and that’s another team USA record (John McEnroe clinched six times, Arthur Ashe four times). But it was inevitable that some reporter (it wasn’t me, honest!) would bring up the remark in the press interviews. This was, after all, that most cherished of all journalistic finds: bulletin board material.
Well, Swiss captain Severin Luthi showed that while he doesn’t know the expression, “bulletin board material”, he’s familiar with the concept, and capable of giving as good as he gets. His response to Mike’s comment, delivered after an eye-roll by Wawrinka, was:
“Nice statement I think we don’t really care about what they said, honestly, if they said that they’re going to close, good for them. I tell you that it’s going to be 2-all after the match of Stan tomorrow. That’s my statement.”
Game on. Bring in Roddick!
Peter Bodo, a senior editor for TENNIS magazine, also writes the TennisWorld blog.