Their captain called, and the Bryan brothers answered.
Of course, when Mike Bryan — half of the most successful doubles team of all time — saw Mardy Fish’s name on the caller ID, he and twin brother Bob figured they were in for a chat with a longtime friend rather than a recruiting pitch from the captain of the United States Davis Cup team.
“When the phone rang, I looked down at it, Mardy is calling to catch up,” Mike Bryan recalled Tuesday. “But then he asked us to suit back up.”
Mike Bryan owns the record for most U.S. Davis Cup appearances at 33 with Bob just behind at 31 and announced their retirement from international team competition in 2016. But with their full-time retirement coming up following this year’s U.S. Open, Mike said they considered Fish’s invitation to return for a farewell appearance at this week’s Davis Cup qualifier on Oahu “for a few minutes, then said, ‘We’re in.’ ”
Just about two weeks removed from their 119th title together, the Bryans join three 22-year-olds just starting their Davis Cup careers in a qualifying tie with Uzbekistan set for Friday and Saturday at Blaisdell Arena. The winner of the best-of-five series of matches advances to the 18-team Davis Cup Finals in Madrid in November.
The Bryans enter their Davis Cup farewell on Saturday with a 24-5 record in the competition dating back to 2003 and earned the clinching point in the 2007 final against Russia for the latest of the country’s 32 titles.
“Davis Cup, it’s brought a lot of energy to our games. We’ve had some of our greatest highs and some of our greatest lows playing in Davis Cup,” Bob Bryan said following the brothers’ first workout at the Blaisdell on Tuesday. “It’s always fun. It’s always great to come here and prepare for that goal.”
The Bryans, who collected 16 Grand Slam titles together, lost their last Davis Cup match in 2016 when the U.S. fell to Croatia in the quarterfinals in Portland, Ore., and are looking forward to another shot at a victorious departure from the event.
“I think we wanted one more taste of playing for our country,” Mike Bryan said. “We just loved it over our career, playing our first tie in ’03, playing so many. It’s just been so special to us.”
While the Bryans, 41, prepare for their final Davis Cup match, Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka made their Davis Cup debuts last November in Madrid and Tommy Paul is making his first appearance this week.
The Americans arrived in Honolulu on an upswing with the Bryans taking the doubles title at the Delray Beach Open on Feb. 23. The 6-foot-11 Opelka claimed the singles crown in Delray Beach for his second career title and enters the week ranked 38th in the world. Fritz jumped 11 spots to No. 24 after advancing to the final in Acapulco last Saturday when he fell to Rafael Nadal. Paul reached the quarterfinals in Acapulco with a win over No. 7 Alexander Zverev.
“Everyone’s confident,” said Fish, who played with the Bryans in Davis Cup and is in his second year as U.S. captain. “Conditions are a little different, but the fact of the matter is everyone is coming in extremely confident, happy, healthy.”
The U.S. ended last year sixth in the Davis Cup rankings, which are based on a four-year period, with Uzbekistan at No. 23. Dennis Istomin, 34, is the most accomplished member of the Uzbekistan roster having reached No. 33 in the world in 2012. He’s at No. 156 this week. He’s joined by Khumoyun Sultanov, Sanjar Fayziev and Olimjon Nabiev. Among the group, only Istomin and Sultanov (No. 305) register in the top 400 in the ATP rankings.
“I’ve played (Istomin) a couple times, played him at Wimbledon. Very good player, can beat anyone on any day,” Fish said. “He’s got a great game for indoor tennis. He’s obviously the one we know more than the others, that doesn’t mean those guys aren’t dangerous. They are very dangerous and you can throw out all the records in Davis Cup because guys just play at a different level when they’re playing for their country.”
The second Davis Cup event held in Hawaii and first since 1992 opens Friday with two singles matches starting at 5 p.m. Saturday’s play opens at 1 p.m. with doubles, followed by reverse singles. The matchups will be announced at a draw ceremony today.
The new Davis Cup format, with countries convening in Madrid for the finals, was introduced last year with Spain, led by Nadal, taking the title. Last year’s semifinalists (Spain, Canada, Great Britain and Russia) and two wild-cards (France and Serbia) automatically advance to the finals. The other 12 berths will be determined in qualifiers, including this week’s at the Blaisdell.
DAVIS CUP QUALIFIER
At Blaisdell Arena
U.S. vs. Uzbekistan
>> When: Friday, 5 p.m. (singles), Saturday, 1 p.m. (doubles, singles)
>> At stake: a spot in the 2020 Davis Cup Finals in Madrid
>> Tickets: Ticketmaster.com, usta.com/daviscup
