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LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMESAugust 4, 2012Bob BryanMike BryanLONDON, ENGLAND BRYAN‑BRYAN/Llodra‑Tsonga THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. (Question regarding tiebreakers.) MIKE BRYAN: We won six tiebreakers. We kind of had the magic on our side. We saved it all for this one. We lost two Grand Slam finals this year. It's kind of been a little bit of a rough 12 months. But now we have smiles on our face. This kind of eclipses any of our wins. There hasn't been a more special feeling than this. It just happened 20 minutes ago, I got to carry that into the mixed. Q. Can you put into words why it's more special? MIKE BRYAN: It's just something that you dream about. To add the 'golden' in front of the 'slam' is pretty cool. Watching the flag go up, hearing the national anthem, you just want savor those moments. I wanted to take mental pictures and store 'em deep in our head. BOB BRYAN: We've won a lot of slams. Slams are awesome. I can tell you there's no better feeling than this right now. Winning for each other, for our team, but for our country. It brought a different level of intensity to our tennis this week. We were scraping and clawing on every point. To hear the national anthem and stand on top of the podium, we could shut our careers down today and be happy for the rest of our lives. Q. Watching the flag stay up, too. MIKE BRYAN: Yeah. Did Serena's come down? Q. Yes. MIKE BRYAN: No, it was cool. The crowd was unbelievable. Just seeing so many flags, a lot of French fans, a lot of U.S. fans. You don't get a lot of that in the doubles final of a French Open or wherever. It was packed. Just running around the court with the flag, it doesn't get any better than that. Q. What was it like to hug your brother like that? MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, we've been through a lot. Had our ups and downs. BOB BRYAN: You don't know. For those moments, you don't really plan them out. I usually just jump and he holds me up. MIKE BRYAN: That's the longest we've ever hugged. BOB BRYAN: We spent 50,000 hours together, probably 30,000 of those on the court, hitting balls across the net in the sun, sweating, working our butts off to get there. That hug right there was a culmination of it all. Q. The way you're hardened tour veterans, you go around the world 24/7, you come to the Olympics, does this bring you back to your youth in some way? MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, the Olympics is an event that is special. I think everyone has memories of watching the Olympics when they're on TV and wanted to be there. When we go home, everyone's going to want to see that medal. Our email boxes are filled. I just looked at my phone, I couldn't count how many emails I had. BOB BRYAN: People that we haven't talked to in 10 years have already called and texted. So we have a lot of new friends now after winning this gold, which is cool. Q. You've been working on that back‑to‑the‑net shot? BOB BRYAN: Yeah. I think that just shows how much it means to us. Any other match, I probably would have let that point go. Out there, I just said, I think I can get there. I'm 34, but I still got some spring in my legs. When I hit it, I'm like, I think that's going to drop. Then Mike got on the baseline and beat Jo‑Wilfried Tsonga from the baseline in a rally, which doesn't happen every day either. Q. Nice way to finish. MIKE BRYAN: Amazing finish to a great match for us. Q. When you were little thinking about all this stuff, Olympics started to come on at that point, did you dream about that as much as you dreamed about the Grand Slams? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, seeing the Dream Team back in '92, Barcelona, it was amazing. You hear the buzz from the other players on the tour about how great the Olympics is. You want to try to get there. That's the first thing. We missed out on Sydney. We just missed it. We wanted to become Olympians. In Athens, we were just in awe. We were Olympians. Crazy feelings. I had tears in my eyes walking around in the opening ceremony. Then you show up in Beijing, Let's get a medal. We did that. When we didn't win the gold, if we could drop a pin on the calendar, you know, a place to peak, it would be here, and we did it. Wimbledon felt like a warmup to this moment. Q. Was it fair to say for you guys growing up it was more Davis Cup and slams? BOB BRYAN: We play our best tennis in Davis Cup and slams. We play with a little extra fire, magic, passion when we're playing for our country. We're a different team when we're playing for our flag. Q. See you in Rio? BOB BRYAN: That's our goal. If we can stay healthy, I think that's where this story can end. We made a pact, I think during Wimbledon, we said we wanted to shut it down in Rio. If we play a day past Rio, then we're going to shoot each other or we're all going to commit suicide. Actually, don't print that, suicide is not a good topic. But we said we're not going to let each other play past Rio, but we'll try to make it. MIKE BRYAN: We're going to try to make Rio. That's our goal. We'll be 38. Nestor is doing it, he's almost 40. So doubles can be played into your 40s (laughter). Q. Have you got a place picked out for the medals yet? BOB BRYAN: It's going to be around my neck for at least a few days. I'm not taking this off until I get back to the States. If I pull out of Toronto with a strained neck, you know why. Q. You're going to have a problem going through security at the airport. BOB BRYAN: I'm not going to take it off. I think the guy will understand. Q. Is it heavy? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, feel it. Q. Yes, it is heavy. BOB BRYAN: It is heavy. It's funny, we did a photo shoot back in New Jersey the week before we came to the Olympics and they gave us replicas, exact replicas of the gold medal. It was for Nesquick. They said, Put that around your neck, we want to take photos just in case you win the gold. I'm like, That's going to jinx us. I'm like, Screw it, let's do it. Now they can use the pictures, which is great. Q. Quick word on Serena. BOB BRYAN: I watched her face during the match. I don't know, I just try to take her type of like tunnel vision, intensity onto the court, and it worked. I kept thinking, She can do it, play with that kind of fire, so can we. On the way out to the court, she said, Guys, c'mon. She gave me a fist, a tough face. I thought we kind of adopted that persona. Use a different word, if you want. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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