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The Bryan Brothers Were Ready to Call It Quits. Now They Might Need One Last Hug.

Dita Alangkara/Associated Press

Bob and Mike Bryan had a really good plan. One last whirl around the world for this unmatched identical twin doubles team. Collect some prize money, doff their caps in Melbourne and Paris and at Wimbledon, then end in one big blanket of tennis love at the U.S. Open in New York, where they have won their home-country slam five times.

So that’s not going to happen, not this year anyway.

The Bryan brothers must confront the same decision facing any number of professional athletes of a certain age. They targeted 2020 as their swan song, a year they might, with a little luck, author the sort of storybook ending every athlete yearns for but only very few — Pete Sampras, Peyton Manning, David Ross — actually get.