119 men’s doubles titles – including 16 Grand Slams – later, Bryan brothers announce their retirement

The curtain has come down on the careers of tennis’ most successful men’s doubles team, the Bryan brothers, after Bob and Mike Bryan confirmed their retirement.

The legendary American duo made the announcement just days before the US Open as they felt “it’s the right time to walk away” from professional tennis.

The identical twins got their first taste of top-level tennis at the 1995 US Open and 25 years later they retire having won 119 men’s doubles titles, including 16 Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal, as a pair.

“We just both feel it in our guts that it is the right moment,” the 42-year-old Mike told the New York Times. “At this age it takes so much work to go out there and compete.

“We love playing still but we don’t love getting our bodies ready to get out there. We want to go out right now where we still have some good tennis left.”

Besides 16 Grand Slams, they also won 39 ATP Masters 1000 titles, doubles gold at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2007 Davis Cup with the United States, and spent 438 weeks at the top of the doubles rankings.

Mike also won the 2018 Wimbledon and US Open men’s doubles titles alongside Jack Sock and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles while Bob won seven mixed major titles.

Their first Grand Slam title came at the 2003 French Open while they won their final major as a pair at the 2014 US Open.

“We weren’t in this last year to just play the matches and to get points or to make money,” Bob said. “It was to really say our thank-yous to everybody and feel the atmosphere one last time.”

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