Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan were close to becoming the world’s best team once again in May, but Bob Bryan’s hip was causing him too much pain to ignore. With 116 tour-level team titles – including 16 majors and 38 ATP World Tour Masters 1000s – in tandem with his brother, Mike Bryan, one half of the most successful team in history had no other option but to look for another doubles partner.

Sam Querrey came on board for Roland Garros, Mike’s eighth different doubles partner – also David Rikl, Michael Hill, Mark Knowles, Mahesh Bhupathi, Mardy Fish and Steve Johnson – other than a blood relative since 2002.

Could Mike add to the two ATP World Tour crowns in 2002 without his sibling – at Nottingham (w/Knowles) and Long Island (w/Bhupathi)? It wasn’t to be, as Mike and Querrey made a first-round exit in Paris (l. to the Skupski brothers). Mike also played with Frances Tiafoe (Atlanta) and Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Washington, D.C.), but at the Fever-Tree Championships in London he found a connection with Jack Sock, who can rip apart any team’s defence with his laser-like power forehand.

Sock, 25, had already won three other titles in 2018 with as many partners – the Delray Beach Open in February (w/Jackson Withrow), the BNP Paribas Open in March (w/John Isner, beating the Bryans in the final) and the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon (w/Nick Kyrgios).

Now, five tournaments into their partnership, and with Bob Bryan still recovering from hip surgery that he underwent on 2 August, Mike Bryan and Sock have captured two Grand Slam championships – Wimbledon (d. Klaasen/Venus) and the US Open (d. Kubot/Melo). Together, they have a 14-2 match record.

“I think Bob is maybe the frontrunner if he gets healthy,” said Mike Bryan in New York, joking about picking between his brother and Sock once Bob gets healthy. “I think he is looking forward to coming back. He’s seeing our good results, and he sees how much I love being out here still at 40. He’s itching to play next season. It’s good to go out on your own terms instead of an injury, and he’s super motivated. He was actually the first guy to call us on the court to talk to both of us. He’s been really supportive. He gets so nervous that he can’t watch the matches but he watches the scores tick.

“I think Bob’s got first dibs,” said Mike Bryan.

“I think he’s earned it,” Sock replied.

“I might be the guy going out with injury next year, and it could be Jack and Bob,” said Mike Bryan.

Mike returned to No. 1 on 16 July, almost 15 years after first reaching the summit of the team game (8 September 2003), and has now won more major doubles titles (18) than any other player. With Sock, the Americans are up to fourth place in the ATP Doubles Race To London.

One spot above them in the battle for Nitto ATP Finals qualification, is the team of Mike and his brother, Bob, courtesy of two titles – the Miami Open presented by Itaú (d. Khachanov/Rublev) and the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (d. Marach/Pavic) – from four straight ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals (also Indian Wells and Madrid, where Bob sustained his injury).

It’s safe to say Mike has options over who to play with at The O2 in London, from 11-18 November.

“Bob and I are looking good for London,” said Mike Bryan at Wimbledon. “Jack and I are looking good.”

Sock said, “Mike looks good for London. That’s what it is.”

Mike smiled, adding, “I’ll probably qualify with someone.”

Time will tell if Bob will return this year, with his steel hip replacement, to the scene of two (2009, 2014) of their four season finale crowns (also 2003-04).

If Frances Tiafoe had accumulated 1,020 points in the ATP Race To Milan by this time last year, the #NextGenATP American would have already all but assured himself a spot in the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals. Tiafoe would have been only 64 points away from second place in the Race.

But this year, even with more than 1,000 rankings points in mid-September, the 20-year-old Tiafoe is still fighting to ensure that he’ll make his debut at the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November at the Fiera Milano.

The top seven players in the Race will qualify automatically, while the eighth spot will be reserved for the winner of an all-Italian qualifier tournament to be held just prior to the prestigious 21-and-under tournament.

Tiafoe is in fifth place in the Race, 325 points ahead of seventh-placed Andrey Rublev, last year’s finalist. But Tiafoe’s position shows how well the 2018 #NextGenATP group has done this season, even after the 2017 class set a high bar.

The current top five players in the Race all have more than 1,000 points. By this time last year, however, only two players – first-placed Alexander Zverev of Germany and second-placed Rublev – had earned more than 1,000 points.

“That’s unheard of for right now. A lot of guys in the Top 50, Top 40, 30. There’s a good level between all of us,” said Tiafoe, who’s at No. 40 in the ATP Rankings, two spots off his career-high. “It’s just shocking how well we’re doing at such a young age. But no reason to get satisfied. There’s plenty more to chase, plenty more things to get.”

Comparing ATP Race To Milan Leaderboards

For Tiafoe, that means aiming for a strong finish to guarantee himself a position at the 21-and-under event. Players must have been born in 1997 or later to be eligible. Last year, Tiafoe narrowly missed out, finishing 110 points behind final qualifier Daniil Medvedev of Russia.

“I’m liking my spot right now. It would be fun to end the year out there,” Tiafoe said.

This year’s #NextGenATP players have implicitly motivated each other throughout the season. One person will do well – such as when Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas beat four Top 10 players en route to the Rogers Cup final in Toronto, or when 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov of Canada become the youngest semifinalist in Mutua Madrid Open history – causing another #NextGenATP player to sit up on his sofa.

“You see a young guy do well, you’re like, ‘Screw that. If they can do it, why not?’ It’s kind of been [doing] the domino effect that way,” Tiafoe said.

He has done some of the motivating as well. Tiafoe won his maiden ATP World Tour title in February at the Delray Beach Open, becoming the youngest American champion on tour since 19-year-old Andy Roddick at 2002 Houston. The 20-year-old Tiafoe also reached the fourth round at two ATP Masters 1000 events – Miami and Toronto – and made his first Grand Slam third round at Wimbledon.

“I feel on any given day I’m ready to beat anyone. I’m not really nervous walking on the court. I feel right at home,” Tiafoe said.

The ATP Race To Milan standings on 29 October 2018, the Monday after the Swiss Indoors Basel and the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna, will determine the seven qualifiers. While ATP Rankings points for the 2018 season decide who qualifies for the event, rankings points will not be awarded at the Next Gen ATP Finals.