"My parents were crying, and then it hit Mike… then it kind of hit me… and then it hit my wife. It was like a virus going through the crowd - Bob Bryan recalls induction into Hall of Fame

Recently, after officially being inducted in the International Tennis Hall Of Fame, Bob Bryan revealed his feelings over the ceremony and how much it meant to him. He had the pleasure of being inducted with his brother, Mike Bryan.

The pair won 16 Grand Slams together, with Bob Bryan going on to add seven in the mixed doubles. He is widely known as one of the greatest doubles players of all time. He was number one in the world for an incredible 438 weeks, and finished on top of the rankings at the end of the calendar year eight times in his career.

Bryan was asked on the Tennis Channel about his induction and who should be added next, as he said: "Yeah, still digesting the whole thing. It was obviously a thrill—super fun three days. Parties, concerts, exhibitions… it was over the top. And it was great to share all that with friends and the coaches who meant a lot along the way. But I do think the most no-brainer induction will be next year—for Roger Federer. I’ve already booked my tickets. I think they’re talking about moving it to a football stadium."

Bryan recalled the memorable night, sharing how he felt and how much it meant to him and his family. "They played this montage of our career, and my parents were crying, and then it hit Mike… then it kind of hit me… and then it hit my wife. It was like a virus going through the crowd. Mike couldn’t get it together at the beginning of the speech—he turned out to be the crier between the two of us. Whenever I started getting emotional, luckily, I handed it off to him. It was kind of like a hot potato going back and forth. You never know how you're going to do up there—you’ve got to get your whole career and all the thank-yous into ten minutes. It was a surreal moment. Still digesting it. Still trying to get my bearings. But it was super fun."

It was not just the Bryan brothers going on stage. Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova also headlined the event, among a star-studded guest list. "Great to go in with Maria. Got to know her better—she’s a true legend. She brought a lot of star power to our class. And, you know, Serena was a big surprise. No one saw that coming. Maria was quizzing us beforehand, like, 'Who do you think is going in?' I threw all these names out—wasn’t even close. No one saw Serena coming. That was really cool."

Bryan took over from Mardy Fish officially as team captain in 2023, but had stepped in as acting captain from 2022. He had come under scrutiny after a disappointing campaign last year and is hoping for a positive result this year, with a qualifier against Czechia coming up in a couple of weeks, with Bryan not underestimating their opponents. However, he has been sent a blow with the inform Ben Shelton being knocked out of the US Open due to a shoulder problem. He may miss the chance to play on home soil, something Bryan is looking forward to.

"Yeah, these guys can play. Two of their players are still left in the tournament—Fritz plays Macháč tonight. But we are stoked to have a home tie. It’s been almost four years. Davis Cup’s been around for 120-plus years. It’s pretty rare to have a match on home soil. I think the fans are really going to eat it up. We’ve got all our best American players who’ve committed, and that’s just been great for me—to have the support of so many great players.

"I was at Ben’s match for a few hours. That was tough to watch—he was making a great run here, like he always does. His shoulder went out on him. He’s getting evaluated right now. Ben’s a competitor. He’s really tough. So if something like this takes him out of the tournament, I’m sure it’s substantial. I'm going to talk to Bryan today and hear from their camp—get more evaluation. I’d love to have him. He’s a big gun to have on our squad and has great records against those guys.

"Fritz is playing well. Tommy looked good until the end—he looked a little hampered, so I’ll talk to his team today. And Francis—yeah, we’ve got a lot of options for the team. We’ll round out the lineup with five players. There’ll probably be a doubles player or team on the squad. Rajeev Ram had a great Cincinnati—he won the tournament. He’s played a lot of Davis Cups in the past. He always steps up. He’d be a great option for this team as well."

The Bryan brothers have won five US Open titles, as Bob recalls his favourite Grand Slam moments from the 23 he won in his career. They first succeeded at Flushing Meadows back in 2005 after reaching and losing every other Grand Slam final that year.

"We won the French Open in ’03—kind of burst on the scene," Byran said, reminiscing on 2005. "But then we hit that sophomore slump. We couldn’t get over the big match. We kept getting to finals—we lost five Grand Slam finals in a row. And in ’05, we lost all of them leading up to the Open. So when we made the final here, we were going for the “anti-Slam,” which would’ve been cool too. I told Mike, 'Hey, this is a win-win for us.'

"That’s when we hired David Macpherson. He switched our mentality. We went in there just going for it—go for broke. No one’s going to hand you these matches. You’ve got to play free. And that’s what we did. We played one of the best matches we’ve ever played—beat our biggest rivals at the time in less than an hour. That changed everything. We went on a run after that."

He went on to describe his favourite memory in New York, citing his success with Martina Navratilova in 2006. "Man, winning the mixed with Martina —that might’ve been it. That was maybe the next year. She was 49. Yeah. That was her record-breaking Slam. She wanted Mike for Wimbledon—Mike didn’t make the cut. They didn’t win. So she upgraded to the lefty. We played every match here on Arthur Ashe Stadium—packed. Just a great memory. Winning with her and going into the press conference with a thousand people was awesome."