Bob and Mike Bryan tie big-time tennis record

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Bob and Mike Bryan, the music-making, arm-punching, chest-bumping doubles team from Camarillo, won their 61st career doubles title Sunday in Madrid, beating Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic,6-3, 6-4. The number 61 is notable because it means the 31-year-old Bryans have now tied Australians Paul Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde for the most-ever doubles titles.

‘It’s something we’ve been kind of focusing on for the last couple of years,’ Mike said from Spain on Sunday night. ‘As we were getting close to the record it was kind of a nervous feeling. A great team like the Woodies? Just to be in the same sentence as them is amazing. They inspired us to play.

‘When we started, it was pretty far-fetched to think we’d run down 61 team titles but slowly we hacked away. It’s a cool feeling and we’re humbled. We idolize them, really.’

Here’s the Bryans by the numbers, thanks to our friends Pete Holtermann and Greg Sharko from the ATP.

The Bryans won their 61st title in their 99th final.

With the title, the Bryans return to No. 1 in the ATP Team Rankings, moving ahead of Nestor and Zimonjic.

The Bryans have been the year-end No. 1 team five times, tying the Woodies’ record.

In February, they won their 600th match together in the semifinals in Delray Beach. They are the only team to reach the 600-win milestone in the Open Era.

In 2010, the Bryans are 5-0 in finals.

In their career, the Bryans have played in an Open Era record 16 Grand Slam finals. They have won eight titles at the Slams, putting them second to the Woodies’ record of 11. They’ve won a career Slam, and, most recently, were champions at the Australian Open this year.

In addition, Bob owns 6 mixed doubles titles at Slams, and Mike has 2.

At 17-2, the Bryans are the winningest team in U.S. Davis Cup team history.

Locally speaking, the Bryans have won a record five L.A. Tennis Open titles, and enter the 2010 event with a 12-match winning streak in Los Angeles. They plan to try to extend that streak in August where they’ve already entered the event that is played at UCLA.

The Woodies will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport in July. It would seem inevitable that the Bryans will eventually follow.

-- Diane Pucin