Unable to finish their careers in front of fans at the US Open as they intended, Bob and Mike Bryan got the send-off they deserved inside Arthur Ashe Stadium to start Tuesday's night session at the 2021 US Open.
Their all-but-official Hall of Fame career spanned a quarter of a century: the five-time US Open men's doubles champions, winners of 18 majors overall, held the world No. 1 ranking for a record 139 consecutive weeks and won a total of 119 doubles titles as a team before their retirement from the at the end of last year.
Video highlights from the on-court ceremony are available at the bottom of this page.
Joining in the ceremony was the Bryans' longtime Davis Cup and Olympic teammate James Blake, with whom they won the 2007 Davis Cup.
"I had the pleasure and the privilege to be teammates with them on a Davis Cup team 11 times, and I'll tell you, the greatest feeling in sports is kicking your feet up and watching Bob and Mike Bryan compete on that Saturday in Davis Cup," said Blake. "You have the utmost confidence that they compete so hard for every one of those points, every one of those matches, and they win, every single time."
They were joined on court by their families, including Bob's wife, Michelle, and children, Micaela, Robert Blake "Bobby Jr.", and Richard Charles "Richie" and Mike's wife, Nadia, and son, Jake.
Representing the USTA at the ceremony was Chairman of the Board and President Mike McNulty, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Mike Dowse, and Chief Executive, Professional Tennis and US Open Tournament Director Stacey Allaster.
The brothers spent 438 weeks together as the No. 1 doubles team in the world, and they finished as year-end No. 1s 10 times. They were Davis Cup stalwarts, as well, notching a 25-5 record together in 30 ties.
"They would show up for every doubles match, which were usual pretty pivotal in Davis Cup tennis, and they would say, 'Captain, this is the most important match of our lives.' And this was coming from a team that won title after title, but that's the way they live their lives. That's the way they competed as a team, that every day, every match, was the most important match of their lives."
The Bryans made their debut in New York in 1995 at age 17, reached their first final at the 2003 US Open. Two years later, in 2005, they captured their first US Open men's doubles title, defeating Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi in the final.
In all, Bryans made 24 appearances together as a team at the Open, highlighted by winning five titles (2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014), finishing runner-up once (2003), reaching four semifinals (2002, 2009, 2013, 2017) and advancing to three quarterfinals (2000, 2007, 2016). Their 100th career title came at the Open in 2014.
"It's really a dream come true to be back on this court," Bob said. "We came into this site the first time as 17-year-old skinny kids, and to think that we won our 100th title on this court and here again tonight, having this honor, it's truly amazing."
"It was always a dream to play on this court, but it was also a dream of ours to play Davis Cup," Mike added. "It's fitting that we have our captain Patrick McEnroe, our teammate James Blake. Patrick, thank you for trusting in us, making us the team, and helping our dreams come true."
Tuesday night's pre-match ceremony concluded with Micaela Bryan, Bob's 9-year-old daughter, singing the national anthem.
The twins also conducted the coin toss for the women's quarterfinal match between Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejcikova.
Watch highlights from the on-court ceremony below.
