yesterday 08:00
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“How are you, I’m drinking beer, the plum wine is very strong, I like gnocchi with bryndza and bacon, Trenčín is nice, hello,” said a few nice words in Slovak from the mouth of the American legend, 44-year-old former tennis player Mike Bryan in Melbourne. At the Australian Open, he and his brother Bob were invited to the legends competition for the first time.
Mike spent 506 weeks at the top of the world doubles rankings, won 22 Grand Slam titles including mixed, is an Olympic bronze medalist, won 124 tournaments. He married the Slovak model Nadia Murgašová, they have sons Jakub and Tomáš.
It is his second marriage, in the first, childless, he was with Lucille Williams from 2012-17. It was his full name, Michael Carl Bryan, who convinced Filip Polášek to return to professional tennis in 2018, since the Slovak player had already ended his career in 2013 due to health problems.
“That’s a beautiful story, but I’ll say jokingly that I shouldn’t have told it. He and Dodig beat us in our last match in Melbourne three years ago. They beat us more than once, so I went against myself. But seriously, Filip is a good guy. I believe that he has not yet said the last word and will return to the Grand Slam tournaments.
I will never forget how I talked him into playing a set against me when he was training at the club and was hesitant to return to the circuit. I told him that his level is so high that he could play for trophies. He was younger and had a lot of wounds. And I was right,” Mike Bryan was interviewed.
He spends most of his time in Florida with his family, but he fell in love with Slovakia. “I like everything about you. People, food, nature, rivers, forests, castles, environment. Three months a year, usually from May to August, we spend the summer in Trenčín, where we live on the same street as three Stanley Cup winners – Zdeno Chára, Marián Gáborík, Marián Hossa.
A friend introduced me to Nadia, I also traveled to see her family, they are great relatives. I am considering applying for Slovak citizenship and who knows, maybe one day I will coach the Slovak Davis Cup team and my son will play for Slovakia in the Davis Cup. In the USA, the competition is fierce.
I will still play and train on the nearby clay courts and I will also help train your juniors. I wouldn’t care to live in Trenčín for the whole year. In Melbourne, my brother Bob and I kept our fingers crossed for Novak Djokovic. Last year at Wimbledon, Bob junior also played with Djokovic’s son Stefan for a while. They both have talent,” former elite doubles player Mike Bryan added interesting information.
