When we were first introduced to Bob and Mike Bryan in 1998, they were identical twins living identical lives. Both sharing a serious passion for tennis.
For real. They shared a house and shared hotel rooms. Rumor has it that they even admitted to occasionally sharing a toothbrush. But it seems that marriage and babies will change everything.
Early on, the two had visions of their future. They repeatedly talked about when they would get married and buy a bigger house, where their two families would live together.
Bob fell in love with Miami’s Michelle Alvarez and Mike found his match in London’s Lucille Williams. Bob and Michelle married in December 2010, reside in Sunny Isles, Fla. (just north of Miami), and welcomed their daughter, Micaela, on Jan. 31 of this year. Mike was engaged to Lucille late last year and will wed in Santa Barbara, Calif., in November. Mike and Lucille live in the house where both brothers resided in their hometown of Camarillo, Calif. Mike bought out Bob’s half of the property.
Mike understands that Bob’s life has moved at a little faster pace than his own, and he’s comfortable with it.
“His priorities have shifted and I come third in his life now,” said Mike, after the two won their first-round match at the Delray Beach Tennis Championships on Wednesday. “Like he’s going down to be with his family tonight. It’s cool. I’m loving experiencing [it]; I’m part of his life, and I’m doing the uncle thing pretty often.”
It’s hard to erase a bond that started in the womb, however, so it was no surprise that Mike immediately flew to Miami the day after his niece was born. Bob is making sure to include his twin in the baby experience. The doting daddy already has snapped about 2,000 photos of Micaela — he’s counting — and has sent every picture to Mike. Playing the proud uncle, Mike quickly held up his cell phone and rolled through all the Micaela photos.
“All the doubles players are getting older and older,” Bob said. “If you look at the rankings now, we’re 33 and we’re some of the youngest guys up there. This is a good lifestyle. Everyone who retires tells us, ‘Geez, you’ve got a good gig, so keep doing it.’”
As you can tell in this following video, these guys still have it.
