Mike Bryan

In harmony on and off the court

Mike Bryan, who teams with his brother Bob to form the highest-ranked doubles pairing in the world, is also a pretty mean drummer. The two, along with their father Wayne, have a band known simply as the Bryan Brothers Band. Bob plays keyboard/piano, Wayne does guitar and Mike holds the beat.

Olympics are it

The Bryans, who own a career Grand Slam, still have a couple of ATP Tour records they are chasing, but their main focus for 2008 is winning gold in Beijing. Following their doubles win over Austria in February, Bob made the claim that there was only one thing they wanted this year. "If you put me on the spot and asked me to pick one we want to win most, it would have to be the Olympics," Bob told reporters in Vienna. "I would say only the Davis Cup and the slams can really (get the juices flowing) for us -- plus the Olympics."

Avenging Athens

In 2004, the Bryan brothers were knocked out by eventual gold medal winners Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu of Chile.

Enjoying '07

Their third-consecutive year atop the Stanford ATP Doubles Race, the Bryans also became the first doubles team ever to hold the No. 1 spot four of five years. Their 11 tour titles marked the first time anyone hit double digits since 1996 when the legendary Australian team of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodford claimed 12. With 45 career doubles titles together (Mike has 47 total), the Bryans trail the Aussies' record career mark by just 16.

Ending the streak

Until late March, a run at blackjack in Las Vegas in early March may have best described the twins' 2008 season. As The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported while the brothers were in town to play the Tennis Channel Open, the Bryans had managed to lose 18 straight hands in blackjack -- quite unlikely given the statistics involved. Paralleling that was their actual tennis season. After winning 11 different doubles titles in 2007, the Bryans were sitting 0-for-6, including an 0-4 record in finals matches, going into the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. There, they finally got over the hump and after two difficult opening round wins, they breezed through the quarters, semis and finals where they beat India's Mahesh Bhupathi and the Bahamas' Mark Knowles 6-2, 6-2. "Feels good," Mike told reporters at the event afterward. "I think we got better every match. Today was one of the best matches we played in a long time. ... We were doing everything well. We came out just going for it. That's what you have to do against a good team like that in a big final, and, yeah, the chips fell."

Good representatives

Mike has participated in 17 Davis Cup matches and has partnered alongside his brother all 16 times that the he has played doubles for the United States. They own a 14-2 record, including a 6-0 record on clay. They are 6-2 on hard court, the type of surface to be used in Beijing. The duo was also a part of the 4-1 victory over Russia in December of 2007 where the U.S. won its first Davis Cup since 1995. Currently, the U.S. is slated to play Spain in September for the semifinals of the 2008 Davis Cup -- the Bryans are 1-1, with a loss to France in the quarters.

In it until the end

Even the best of brothers have their limits on how much time they can spend together, and while Mike has said the thought of splitting up has crossed their minds, he confirmed at the 2007 Australian Open that they wouldn't be finding new partners anytime soon. "It has crossed our mind when we have those tough moments, when we're fighting after a loss," Mike said to reporters in Melbourne. "We're in this together. We're going to finish our careers together. ... Obviously it hurts a little bit worse losing with your twin brother because, you know, he feels like he can say anything to me and I can say anything to him - and we usually do. ... I mean, we're having a great time doing this thing together.

Does that mean he's in charge?

For whatever it's worth, Mike can claim that he has more experience on this earth than Bob given that Mike was born a full two minutes before his younger twin brother.