US twin brothers Mike and Bob Bryan were planning to make a farewell tour in 2020 and end their glorious career at the US Open in New York. However, the coronavirus pandemic has completed changed their plans.
The Bryan brothers are facing the tough decision whether to continue their career and postpone their farewell tour until 2021. Mike and Bob don’t even know if they will travel to New York or not, live in a bubble at an airport hotel in Queens and play without fans.
“I don’t know we want to play a sterile US Open with no fans ?”, said Mike Bryan in a video chat from his home near Los Angeles.
Bob and Mike have signed up for World Team Tennis, an exhibition tournament, where teams of players play against each other in a series of short matches. The nine-team usually plays its annual summer season in different US cities. This year the tournament takes place at the Greenbrier, a West Virginia resort in a close and restricted environment. Players play in front of 500 spectators.
The Bryan twins, who will turn 42 years next August, have won a record 119 tour titles, surpassing Todd Woobridge and Mark Woodforde, who claimed 61 titles. Mike and Bob have claimed a career Super Slam and 16 Grand Slam titles, which is more than any men’s team in the Open Era. The collection of their Grand Slam titles include six wins at the Australian Open, two French Open titles, three Wimbledon trophies and five US Open wins. They are the only doubles teams in history to have completed “Doubles Career Grand Slam” having won all four Grand Slam titles at least twice as a team. They have also won four ATP Tour Finals titles.
This year the Bryans lost in the third round at the Australian Open before winning their 119th career title in Delray Beach. They team up to win their doubles match in a Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan in Honolulu.
