The Bryans Would Like to See A Two-Year Ranking System

Bob and Mike Bryan, who failed in their attempt to tie Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge's mark of 62 career doubles when they lost in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, are in favor of the ATP Tour going to a two year ranking system.

Speaking in support of their close friend James Blake, who has been riddled with a right knee injury and is currently ranked No. 109, some 105 spots off his career high. The twins said that the ATP should adopt what the PGA Tour has, a two-year ranking system that is more kind to injured players.

“It's a brutal ranking system and I think they should adopt one like with golf,” Bob said. “James is missing a few months and he falls out of top 100. You can't take two months off in our sport and expect to come back.”

Mike added, “You get one little nick and then you are fighting back in the Challengers and then you are coming into ATP events unseeded.”

Blake, who was off much of the spring and returned just in time for the grass court season, doesn't believe in taking anti-inflammatory medication, which is why it took him longer to return. After the American suffered a first-round loss at Wimbledon, he said that his right knee is aching him again and he doesn't know how successful he can be playing with his injury. However, the 30 year old doesn't want to undergo surgery.

"The knee is not great," said Blake, whose next scheduled event in Atlanta. "If it doesn't get better soon, I'm not sure how much longer I want to play in pain. I'm doing my best. We're doing everything we can.  It's just getting pretty frustrating.  We're trying everything, so hopefully soon we'll find the solution and make it so it's better. Maybe it's just getting old. At this point in my career, I don't know if surgery is a viable option. But I want to play this summer.

“Now I've got two weeks where I'm not playing a match.  I'll see how it reacts to new treatments. If that means playing in pain, I'm gonna play in pain.  If it means I'm back to being healthy, then I have a feeling I'm gonna want to continue.  I'm gonna want to get back to the way I know I can play. If it's continuing to play in pain, I'll reassess after the US Open and see if I want to continue that.  If I need to, after the Open, take the rest of the year off and then see if I can start fresh in 2011."