Bob Bryan Drills His Brother Mike in the Back of the Head With a Serve

Bob and Mike Bryan were competing in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London on Sunday when Bob crushed his brother in the back of the skull with a serve. Having been on the giving and receiving end of similar transactions in my tennis past, the pain of getting hit probably isn’t as bad as the guilt of having done it.

Since we’re here, and I’ve never described this story in print, I’ll just tell it now. My partner and I were the no. 9 seed in the Connecticut state doubles tournament our senior year of high school in 2005. We beat the 8-seed in a match where we frustrated our opponents so much that their coach pulled them off the court for throwing their racquets (we’d had a contentious match with them earlier in the season, too, and this was easily one of the two most satisfying personal sports victories of my life). We were within a point or two of beating them at that point. It was a matter of when and not if, but there’s still no better way to win a tennis match.

The next day, we faced the 1-seed in the state. We got off to a dominant start, taking the first set 6-2. They had no answers. My partner and I had this “play-call” where he’d hit a super spinny serve, the returner would pop it up, and then I’d drill the net guy with an overhead. It worked out that way once or twice a match, and at the beginning of the second set I drilled the poor guy right in the nuts. He was doubled over in agonizing pain for what must have neared a half-hour. Everything was awesome.

As soon as he got up, he and his partner went on a tear, ending our magical states run and respective high school tennis careers. Not sure if there’s a lesson there or whatnot, but now you all have heard about my athletic glory days.