Simply being part of a United States Davis Cup team was a dream
come true for the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike.
Victory in this year's final against holders Russia to give the
US its first success in the prestigious competition since 1995 was
the crowning moment of the twins' glittering careers.
"This ranks at the very top," Bob Bryan said in an interview
after the Americans had clinched the three-day tie 4-1 at Memorial
Coliseum.
"I would clean out my whole trophy case to put the Davis Cup
trophy in there. I would give away all the titles and everything
for this one title."
The dominant Bryan brothers have won 44 ATP titles together,
including five Grand Slams, and ended 2007 as the world's No 1
doubles team for the third successive year.
Left-hander Bob was clearly pleased "just to be kind of
considered in the same league as (Pete) Sampras, (Andre) Agassi and
those guys.
"This team is carving out its own niche in US tennis history and
we needed to do this to be up there with those guys."
Twelve years earlier, tennis great Sampras had led the Americans
to their previous triumph in the team competition, also against
Russia on clay in Moscow.
In Portland, the crowd-pleasing, chest-bumping Bryan brothers
crushed Russians Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev 7-6, 6-4, 6-2
to give the Americans an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five
match final.
For right-hander Mike, Davis Cup success is as good as it gets
for a doubles player.
"The singles guys, they play on television every week, they are
always on the big stage," he said.
"For doubles, Davis Cup is the biggest stage in tennis. A whole
day is devoted to it and it's on television to an international
audience. Right when I turned pro, I knew that's where we wanted to
be, on the US team.
"We can die happy right now," the 29-year-old added with a
laugh.
US Davis Cup regulars since 2003 and battle-hardened in the
Grand Slam arena, the Bryan brothers had never before experienced
such a high level of pressure and expectation.
"I got a lot more nervous for our doubles match than for any
Grand Slam final," Bob Bryan said. "It's tough being like the
'gimme' point for our team. In our own mind, we know it's a 'gimme'
if we play up to our level.
"But it's the anticipation of doing it, putting your body on the
court, being healthy and actually executing. That's what makes you
nervous, the question of whether you can actually execute."
Mike drew on memories of their first Grand Slam final together
to help him handle the pressure at Memorial Coliseum.
"When I was on the court, I was actually thinking about the
French Open in '03 because that was an enormous amount of pressure
and very similar," he said. "When we got up in the French Open, I
could feel my legs start getting wobbly, I could feel the nerves
start hitting you and it's hard to focus when that amount of
pressure is on. You start looking at people in the crowd.
"So I was thinking: 'Stay focused like the French Open, because
there we kept moving our feet and staying energized. There's
nothing like the pressure of winning your first Grand Slam, and
then the Davis Cup is an absolute horror, I thought."
The Bryans have lost just one doubles match out of 14 in the
Davis Cup since making their debut against Slovakia in a World
Group playoff in 2003.
In 2005, they were beaten in four sets by Croatian pairing Mario
Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic in a first-round tie which the US lost
3-2.
(Agencies via China Daily December 5, 2007)