A tactical switch helped Bob and Mike win their eighth Grand Slam doubles title just after the midnight hour Sunday morning here on Rod Laver Arena when they beat Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to break a losing streak against the Canadian/Serbian pair.
The Bryans trailed 8-3 in head-to-head meetings and had lost the previous five matches. So, in consultation with their Australian coach, David MacPherson, it was decided to switch the right-handed Mike Bryan to the deuce court and the left-handed Bob to the advantage court.
Australian Open radio analyst Ashley Fisher, himself a current doubles player on the ATP tour, explained that it was intended to prevent Zimonjic and Nestor swinging the serve wide to Bob’s weaker backhand side in the deuce court. It worked. Mike returned serve particularly well off both flanks in his new position and it was only at the end of the second set when the Bryans squandered a 5-2 lead that their opponents grabbed the upper hand. Bob actually had two serves at 5-4 but a fine return and a poor volley ensured that there would be a deciding set.
“Yeah, we thought we would try something different,” said Mike. “They’ve kind of had our number. We decided to throw a new look at them. We used to play like that early in our career. Our first time in a Grand Slam final playing that way, but it seemed to help. They served extremely big. It’s a little easier to take the inside-out backhand cross court. So, yeah, could be the way of the future. We’ll see.”
