Tweeting Twins Set Standard On & Off The Court

© Bryan Bros.The Bryans share a photo from a commercial shoot on their Twitter account, posting "This will look cool...right?!"

They’ve been the ATP World Tour Doubles Champions five of the past six years. And, in the eyes of many tennis fans, they’re also the reigning champions in the tennis Twitter stakes.

As more and more players embrace social networking to communicate directly with fans, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan lead the way with their revealing, witty and always-entertaining tweets. Take this, for example:

Golf battle. Me and Joel against Mike and Gary. They've lost $70 worth of balls and hit 3 houses. Anyone in the 93010 zip code, stay inside.

Bob’s Twitter philosophy is simple: quality over quantity. “You want to do one or two a day. I don’t like tweeters who blow up your inbox,” he says. “I’m not going to tweet that I’ve gone to practice and now am about to lift weights. That won’t excite people. You want to give people an insight into something other than tennis. We’re never just sitting on our butts. We’re always doing something crazy or exciting. We can at least send one juicy tweet a day.”

Rough Monday. Camera bag stolen at airport, turbulence, ATM doesn’t work, taxis don't take credit card: tired, hungry....scared. Hold me.

Since joining the Twitter community in April last year, the Bryans have amassed more than 16,000 followers. Like their doubles partnership, the secret to the Bryans’ tweeting success can be found in teamwork. Bob is responsible for content with Mike acting as a sounding board and gatekeeper, approving all tweets before they are sent. “I’ll read them over to make sure they’re not too controversial or racy,” Mike says.

“I once tweeted that I went to see ‘New Moon’ and I copped a lot of flak over that”

“When you’ve got 15,000 people following you, it can be hard to post a tweet that won’t offend someone in that group,” Bob adds. “I once tweeted that I went to see ‘New Moon’ and I copped a lot of flak over that. I didn’t realise there were so many ‘New Moon’ haters. More seriously, after we lost a tough match at the US Open I said I was going to the top of the Empire State Building and was going to jump off. It was said in jest but I got some responses from people saying that suicide is no joke, which is true. That’s why it’s good to have Mike there to say: ‘You better not write that man.’”

The Bryans have even used Twitter to attempt to schedule a practice session. At Indian Wells in March, Bob posted this tweet for the attention of Brazilian Marcelo Melo: @marcelomelo_ We have a court at noon tomorrow...is that good for you guys?

So did the proposed practice take place? “He canceled it on Twitter,” Bob deadpans. “But there were no hard feelings. I didn’t cut him from my followers list… although he writes mainly in Portuguese so I can’t understand it anyway.”

Bryan Brothers’ Top 10 Tweets

For French Open apartments… Have learned that objects in pictures are always smaller than they appear.

James Blake smoked his trainer, @rorycordial with a frying pan 6-1! Poor guy now has to sport a mustache 4 a month!

What do you get when you mix 60 Italian teens, Rafa, & Vueling Airlines? One crazy ass flight! Finally in Rome. Hallelujah.

Anyone like Quarter Pounders w/ cheese at 10:31am? Not me. C'mon Micky D's...jump on the Jack in the Box all day breakfast bandwagon!

Happy Mother's Day! You all deserve love today & every day. My mom is the Federer of Moms...and the Nadal of claycourt Moms. Love you Mom!

Been lying on the couch all morning fading in and out of consciousness. A man can only watch so much curling!

Went to my cousin's theater performance last night. They gave us tomatoes @ the door-Missed his head with a fastball but then found my range

Still have not gotten my luggage from the Serbia flight. If you see any baggage handlers sporting KSwiss gear, think of me.

Just had the fishiest seared tuna ever. Tastes like chum juice. I need a tic tac with a battery.

My email was hacked. Serves me right for still using AOL. Hey hacker guy, start running dude. I'm gonna chase you through cyberspace!

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