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Mike Bryan recently reflected on how hard he trained hard with his twin and doubles partner Bob Bryan, making them one of the most iconic and successful doubles pairs of all time. He reminisced how the twins used to push each other during practice sessions to get the best results.
Mike appeared on the ATP Tennis Radio Podcast with Jill Craybas where he discussed his retirement from tennis, post-retirement opportunities, and how he won 18 Major titles.
When the interviewer asked Mike Bryan when he looks back at the achievements and what it took to achieve them, the American shared a rare insight into what went on during the practice sessions and the brothers' mentalities.
"It was a lot, you know, we went really hard, went after it for so long at a high level and we kept our standards really high and we're always just focusing on trying to improve and get better, we had this 'no satisfying' mentality when we win a big one okay where are we going next, just keep going so we never took the foot off the gas pedal for so long and never really kind of exhaled and looked at what we had accomplished, we were just kind of always striving for the next thing. So now that we are done, just to slow down, just kinda I don't know how we got as many titles as we did just because I know how hard it is to win one," Mike stated.
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Mike Bryan also discussed how the twins pushed each other and that he is grateful that they were able to play tennis on some of the biggest stages in the world.
"He was pushing me, I was pushing him and every practice was intense. We had great trainers, keeping us healthy for most of our career and we had a lot of fun along the way but we were just super serious about what we did and we jusy had these lofty lofty goals and I mean it's a good body of work and I'm happy that we were able to play on some of the biggest courts in the world and bring that twin energy and the passion for the game in doubles and people were able to witness it," he continued.
Mike Bryan also shared how they aren't keeping tennis in the backseat during retirement. He pointed out that his brother Bob Bryan has become the captain of the USA Davis Cup team, replacing Mardy Fish.
"we still just really love this game that's why and we're not going anywhere, I'm here with you and Bob (Bryan) has got the Davis Cup position which is cool we still got our feet in tennis and it's such a big part," he added.
A look at Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan's remarkable tennis achievements
The most successful doubles pairs of all time have some remarkable achievements to their name. The pair turned pro in 1998 and retired in 2020.
The Bryan brothers have jointly held the World No. 1 ranking for 438 weeks, while Mike Bryan has been ranked Men's Doubles World No. 1 for a whopping 506 weeks - the most in doubles history.
Bob Bryan has won a total of 119 doubles titles whereas the older Bryan has won 124. Bob has won 16 Major titles whereas Mike has won 18. They also bagged an Olympic gold medal in doubles at the 2012 London Olympics.
They are the only doubles pair to win all four Majors, an Olympic gold medal, Davis Cup, ATP Tour finals, and every ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in the doubles format. From 2005-2017, the duo won the ATP Tour Fans' Favorite Team award every year.
