While Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have spent the last two decades racking up titles on the ATP World Tour, another pair of twin brothers has been doing the same thing on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Sonchat Ratiwatana and Sanchai Ratiwatana have become the first doubles team to win 40 Challenger doubles titles with their victory at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. They already broke the record for most Challenger doubles titles last year by winning No. 38 in Yokohama, Japan, surpassing the record held by Rik De Voest. They further padded their record by winning in Gwangju, Korea, in April, before prevailing again in Kaohsiung.
The 34-year-olds from Thailand have been a reliable staple in the winner’s circle, winning at least one title each year since 2003. The Ratiwatanas have been especially dominant in Asia, with 29 of their ATP Challenger Tour titles and both of their ATP World Tour titles (in Chennai and Bangkok) coming on the continent.
“It’s always good to break records. We’re happy to create something new,” said Sonchat, the older of the two brothers by four minutes. “We feel good every time we play in Asia and have won many titles here. I prefer to play here because it’s not far from home in Bangkok, but we’re also lucky that there are more Challengers here now.”
Sanchai admitted that it’s difficult for casual tennis fans to tell the two apart when they’re playing, but said it’s easier once people get to know them because he’s the more soft-spoken and laid-back of the two. On the court, though, the twins have become so ingrained as a team that they’ve found it difficult to play with anyone else. They’ve competed in 241 Challenger events as a team, but have only paired with other partners on three different occasions.
“There was one tournament where we didn’t play together and we faced each other in the first round,” said Sonchat. “It didn’t work out for us.”
The brothers admitted that they’d like to have more success on the bigger stages this year, but also said that they weren’t bothered with being labeled the “Challenger Bryans” since it means they’re a winning combination.
“The Bryan Brothers are one of the best doubles team ever and we’ve always looked up to them,” said Sonchat. “If we can’t be like them on the biggest stage, we can be like them on the second stage. Even if we may not win most of the ATP World Tour titles, we’re happy about everything we’ve done in our careers. It might take another team 10 or 20 years to break the record we have now.”
Having moved their rankings back inside the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings this year, the Ratiwatana brothers are hoping to pad their ranking with a few more Challenger titles this season. Sanchai said their ultimate goal is to make it back onto the main stages of the biggest tournaments in the world.
“We obviously want to make it back on to the ATP World Tour, but we’re also trying our best to have good results in Challengers,” he said. “We want to get back into the Top 75 and play the Grand Slams. That’s why we’re still playing despite our age. We still love to do this.”