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AUSTRALIAN OPEN


January 27, 2007


Bob Bryan

Mike Bryan


MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Bjorkman and Mirnyi beat you the last four times. Was that sweet revenge?
BOB BRYAN: Three or four?
MIKE BRYAN: He probably knows better than us. Last year they beat us in three finals. We finally beat Jonas in a Grand Slam final. He was 3-0 against us.
BOB BRYAN: 3-1. We beat him at the US Open.
MIKE BRYAN: He's a tough player. Yeah, it feels kind of like a little revenge. You know, we'd be happy to beat anyone in there.
A Grand Slam final is a Grand Slam final. It's good to beat a tough player like Jonas. He doesn't give you the match.

Q. You've won all four Grand Slam doubles titles. Have you any ambitions left?
BOB BRYAN: We always want to play well at these tournaments, these Grand Slams. I think it's where you're remembered in this game. We want to stack up against some of the great teams.
By winning all four, that put us in the history books. Davis Cup's big for us. We always want to play well at Davis Cup. We lost in the finals to Spain that one year. I know James Blake and Andy Roddick are really ambitious about the Davis Cup. We want to help them win that.

Q. What makes you a great doubles team?
MIKE BRYAN: We're twins. We've been playing together since we were five years old. We're a lefty-righty combination. Bob is a huge server; I'm a pretty good returner. If you play thousands of matches together, you're going to flow well out there on the court.
We don't use too many signals. We just wing it now. We've played so many matches that we kind of read each other's minds out there.

Q. How do you compare this win with your other Grand Slam wins?
BOB BRYAN: Every one is special. It's great to come out and start this year well. We're on top of the rankings right now. It's good to have that little one up on everyone to start the year.
I can't say it's more special than any other ones we had. Winning that first one is awesome. Winning Wimbledon was a dream come true just because it completed the set of four. Winning the Open in our own country was certainly special also.
But to come down here and get to the finals four years in a row, to defend our first -- it's the first time we've ever defended a Grand Slam. That's also special.

Q. You spoke about wanting to stack up against the great doubles teams. In your opinion, who are those teams?
BOB BRYAN: The Woodies are up there. McEnroe/Fleming. Eltingh/Haarhuis, they won all four. Who else would you consider?
MIKE BRYAN: Stan Smith and Bob Lutz. You can go back. I'd say at the top of the list, you probably would have to say the Woodies. For us, I think they're the greatest team of all time. What they did at Wimbledon, their domination, they dominated over a decade. Just playing against them, we actually were lucky enough to play against them. Them not being big guys, they still dismantled teams with their poaching, their intelligent play out there.
Yeah, I think definitely on paper and being able to play against them, I think they're the greatest team to ever play.

Q. What do you think set them apart? Was it their intelligence?
MIKE BRYAN: They used the angles. They didn't have a big serve, but they used the angles. Yeah, they dissected teams. They had the great scouting reports, would figure out ways to beat, you know, the big teams. I think they won five Wimbledons in a row. Grass is a surface that neutralizes. It's pretty short points. They somehow won five in a row.
BOB BRYAN: That's probably what was so impressive. They didn't have a huge weapon, but they were able to use their minds, their solid Aussie volleys to really tear teams up.

Q. Do you ever get the hankering to go out and play singles?
BOB BRYAN: This is what we do. This is kind of where we want to leave our mark. It's tough now. The way the rankings are set up, we'd have to go back to the minor leagues and play over in Waco, Texas, for two years, grind it out. We don't have that kind of time any more at 28 years old.
This is what the sponsors pay us to do, is play doubles. They want to see us on the doubles court. We're loving doing it. We have more fun. It's more gratifying to win a doubles match with Mike, to share it with him.

Q. Have you ever had the feeling that maybe you'd like to split up at some stage?
MIKE BRYAN: No.

Q. Never crossed your mind?
MIKE BRYAN: It has crossed our mind when we have those tough moments when we're fighting after a loss. We're in this together. We're going to finish our careers together. Yeah, as Bob said, it's more special winning. 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.
Yeah, I mean, we're having a great time doing this thing together.

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