by Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
On March 13, 2023, Bob Bryan was announced as the 43rd United States Davis Cup captain.
With there being no formal press conference introducing Bryan in his new role, Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj had the first opportunity to extensively speak with Bryan about the prestigious appointment when he had Bryan on the Tennis Channel set at the Miami Open. The left-handed Bryan twin also was able to preview September’s Davis Cup draw where the United States was drawn in Group D to play in Croatia against the Netherlands, Finland and the host nation, Croatia.
The following is the transcript of Bryan’s interview with Amritraj.
Bob Bryan:
I obviously played many times under some great captains, Patrick McEnroe for 10 years, and then Captain (Jim) Courier. So many great memories from my time doing that. And this has got my juices flowing, man. I’m looking forward to representing the country, but helping the guys get their goal of bringing back the cup.
Prakash Amritraj:
Has this always been a dream of yours to be able to serve in this capacity?
Bob Bryan:
I mean, look, it’s one of the reasons why Mike and I chose doubles. We really wanted to make, the Davis Cup team, wanted to represent the US in Olympics as well. We went to a Davis Cup match when we were 10 years old down in La Costa, saw our idols. Ricky Leach was there who was a great family friend, but number one in the world in doubles, and they won that match. We fell in love with the Davis Cup. We fell in love with tennis, and here I am captaining the US Davis Cup team was the dream.
Prakash Amritraj:
That’s remarkable. When you talk about 1990, when you were able to go visit, by the way, in my opinion, I don’t think you’ve aged very much since then. I mean, let’s get a good look here. Look at those kids.
Bob Bryan:
Yeah, those are actually 12 years old there. It might look like we’re six years old, but that’s actually how we looked when we went to Stanford too. Just skinny little kids, hit puberty around 21. But yeah, you could see how much we’re loving it there. We are covered in flags. Just stoked to pull on the US. They played the Mexican team. It was actually, I think Brad Gilbert was playing that match, Jay Berger, who was our assistant captain when we played, but that really had an impact on us when we were little, being there.
Prakash Amritraj:
Bob, you and Mike have been a part of so many very special Davis Cup matches. Is there one particularly that sort of stands out for you?
Bob Bryan:
I mean, it was tough to make the team, Patrick McEnroe kind of held the carrot out, dangled in front of us. We won the French Open and we felt like we were now, we had arrived and we deserved it, but he said, “Guys, you’ve got to be number one in the world.” The team was made up of four players at the time and couldn’t take the risk of having (Andy) Roddick or someone get injured and throwing us out there to get chomped. So he wanted to make sure we were really established as a doubles team. And we made the finals of the U.S. Open that year. Got the nod by P Mac and it was a dream. We went over to Bratislava, played our first time in the clay, and we were so jacked up that Mike actually cramped, indoors clay doubles.
Prakash Amritraj:
Indoors?
Bob Bryan:
And we were in the breaker in the third set. We won the first two. And Mike looks at me, he is like, “I’m cramping man, and we got to finish this match here.” I’m like, “Wait, you’re cramping?” And yeah, he’s like, “My calf is going.” And then we ended up winning the match. We did a chest bump. He got one inch off the ground because he was full body cramped. But I think that showed how much it meant to us. We were really nervous, but Pat Mac did a good job of controlling those nerves and letting us know, “Guys, don’t worry if you lose here, you’re still my team.” Which made us feel good.
(READ more about the Bryan Brothers Davis Cup debut in the ebook: “U.S. Davis Cup Team Stories – The Bryan Brothers Debut In A 2003 Season of Change” for download here https://a.co/d/bY79UUi via @Amazon
Prakash Amritraj:
There’s a lot that I want to get to with the current squad that you’re going to be able to select from. And the draw I know was just done today as well, but when you talk about those special moments like that, how cool was it for mom and dad to be able to see all that?
Bob Bryan:
Yeah, I mean, it was cool. My dad would always bring 200 kids from the program to the matches. Yeah, we were always getting so many tickets for people. It was a blast. My grandparents, who would never travel from Santa Maria, they would always show up at the Davis Cup matches. That was their moment to be there with us. And then winning the cup in 2007 with Roddick and (James) Blake and all our buddies there. Mardy (Fish) was there.
We played the Russians in Portland in the Rose Garden, packed 15,000 people. We had a chance to clinch it because Andy and James took care of business on the Friday. So we were able to celebrate on the court. We were drinking out of the cup. We were at this club in Portland into the wee hours of the night.
Prakash Amritraj:
Must have been wild.
Bob Bryan:
Partying, and then you know, have dead rubbers the next day. Even though the match is over, you have to come back for the dead rubbers because of the fans. Andy tapped me on the shoulder. He is like, “Hey, you’re, you’re the guy tomorrow.” I’m like, “Ah.” So I sobered up pretty quick. It was like 2:00 AM and then I had to roll out there for singles the next day, which wasn’t fun.
Prakash Amritraj:
I tell you what, after you won the cup, it’s all fun. And man, we’ve seen Wayne and Kathy so many times hitting the stands, cheering you guys on. This must be a beautiful moment.
Bob Bryan:
No, it’s cool. I mean, they’re happy. My brother’s happy for me. I want to get him involved in the team as well. He’s got a wealth of knowledge. I’d definitely be using him over. We’re going to Croatia. I know you were going to talk about the draw, but that was done this morning and we’ll be going there after the US Open. So we got some time on, I think it’s 166 days we have until the next tie.
Prakash Amritraj:
So let’s talk about that, how that panned out. You said you’re taking on Croatia in the group. Say it’s group D?
Bob Bryan:
Yeah, it’s group D.
Prakash Amritraj:
How do you like the way things panned out?
Bob Bryan:
I mean, look, there’s no easy teams in this tournament. We’re playing Croatia in Croatia. They’ve gotten the best of us definitely a few times since I’ve been on the team as a player. And then Netherlands is rock solid as well. They got, I don’t know how you say that name, van de Zandschulp and Griekspoor, great doubles player, and Koolhof. And they also got Middelkoop. And then Finland’s got a team that’s really emerging right now. They got Heliövaara playing great doubles and then a guy that we’re watching on center court right now. So no easy matches. The top two teams from that group D go to the final eight, which will be in Malaga, Spain, around Thanksgiving time.
Prakash Amritraj:
Let’s talk about this format here, making it out here and then making it into, the format’s changed quite a bit since the time you played, how do you like the format now?
Bob Bryan:
I mean, honestly I loved it the way it was. You had a lot of home ties here in the States. I think it was good for the next generation of young Americans to come to the ties and be inspired. So I mean I loved, we had a tie here in Delray. It was packed. We played a couple in Winston-Salem in the basketball arena. We played at the UT in Austin, 15,000 people cheering. We’re not going to have that in Croatia. And when we play Croatia, I assume it’s going to be well attended. But when we play Netherlands, there might be 300 people. So I’d love to see you go back to the home-and-away ties. I know they’re talking about it right now.
But look, whatever format it is, there’s nothing like representing the US and putting that flag on your back and going to war with your brothers.
Prakash Amritraj:
Getting goosebumps, man. Thinking about those home-and-away ties.
