(Reuters) – Bob and Mike Bryan, the most successful men’s doubles team in the history of tennis, are bringing the curtain down on their 22-year professional careers, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
The Bryans, 42, captured a professional era record 119 titles together, including 16 Grand Slams, 39 ATP Masters 1000s and the ATP Finals title four times.
“We just both feel it in our guts that it is the right moment,” 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.”
The Californian pair were the top-ranked doubles team in the world for 438 weeks and became the first team to clinch a Career Golden Masters in 2014 with their Shanghai triumph.
They also won Olympic gold at London 2012 and were part of the U.S. Davis Cup-winning team in 2007.
“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.”
Mike claimed two more Grand Slam titles with Jack Sock in 2018 after his brother was sidelined with a hip injury.
The Bryans will exit on a winning note, having lifted the Delray Beach Open title in February before the season was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
