Doubles has never been the same since John McEnroe and Peter Fleming stopped playing regularly.  When serve and volley was king, the top players routinely played doubles since it honed their volley game.  The top pros play doubles sparingly, but do it once in a while.  Even Federer and Nadal have played every now and again.  Nadal has even won doubles tournaments before.

After McEnroe, the face of doubles were essentially doubles specialists.  This included the American duo Flach and Seguso and of course, the Woodies: Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde.  Woodforde says the push to doubles specialization is stronger than it ever has been.  When he and Woodbridge played, they often played singles.  Indeed, Woodforde was a top 30 player.  Like Mac and Fleming, Martina and Pam, and of course, the Bryan brothers, the Woodies were a lefty (Woodforde) righty (Woodbridge) combo.

The Aussie duo won 61 doubles titles and were inducted a few weeks ago into the Tennis Hall of Fame (along with women’s doubles players, Natasha Zvereva and Gigi Fernandez).

The Bryan brothers had scheduled Wimbledon to be the tournament they would break the record, but were unable to pull off the win.  They decided Los Angeles would be a fitting place to attempt the record.  They had won the event five times since 2001 and were defending champions.

They were playing American Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Roger of Netherlands Antilles.  The duo took the first set in a tiebreak, and the Bryans took the second set easily, 6-2.  This forced a 10 point pro tiebreak.  The rules are the same as the so-called 12 point tiebreak (first to 7, lead of 2) except they must reach 10 points with a lead of 2 (I think it makes more sense to call the standard tiebreak a 7-2 tiebreak, which means 7 points with a lead of 2, which would make 5-1 tiebreak the first to reach 5).

The 10 point tiebreak was close too.  Despite a lead by the Bryan brothers, they went to 7-all, before getting a 9-7 lead, and then taking the final point to win their 62nd title.  Father Wayne Bryan, who serves as a kind of emcee, was there.  Mark Woodforde also made the journey to congratulate the pair.

When asked what their most memorable win was, they pointed to winning the Davis Cup in 2007.  The Bryan brothers are in their early 30s.  Many doubles teams play as late as their late 30s, and so the Bryans hope to add to their title count.

The Bryan brothers have done more than their share to promote doubles.  When top singles players focus on singles only, there are no top male players that routinely play doubles.  It’s been a long time since Edberg and Jarryd played together, both of whom played singles as well.