BRUNO SOARES BLOGS FOR US

Hello from Shanghai where Jamie Murray and I are into the quarterfinals! It’s a very big tournament, a tournament that I really enjoy, so I want to stay till the end.
It’s been an amazing year. It’s the first season me and Jamie are playing together. When we got together at the end of last year, both of us were close to winning Slams before, but we didn’t have one. Of course, once you partner with someone, there’s this belief that you’re going to do well. But to bring that into the court was a completely different thing.
We played each other so many times before so we knew how to work with each other’s game and success came really fast. In our first three tournaments, we won Sydney, and then went on to win Melbourne, our first Slam. And now, for us to win the US Open, too, it’s more than we asked for. It’s been amazing. It’s been really nice to play with Jamie. He was a good friend before, and now he became a good friend and my partner, so we’ve been having a lot of success but also a lot of fun on- and off-court.
People say a doubles team is like a marriage and in my case, that’s 100% true. For me, I feel the off-court is as important as the on-court. You wake up, you do practice, you’re tired, you’re jet-lagged and then you play. You win, you lose, you’ve got to deal with so many emotions and you’ve got to be able to do that with your partner. For me, it’s exactly like a marriage. It’s important to have a connection.
I played a long time with Alex Peya who’s still probably my best friend on tour. He’s like family to me. Our families know each other. We have such a strong connection that it’s tough to play against each other. But it’s part of the game. Once you go on the court, you’ve got to be professional. At the end of the day, it’s all based on results.
We had a little bit of a drop last year. We didn’t play as good as we had been playing before, so we thought it’d be good to try something different. We had a great talk, and we’re both very good friends, but it’s definitely not easy when I have to play against him.
With Jamie, we’re playing good tennis, we’re still fresh, and that’s a good sign for us, a good start and hopefully we can keep up the good work. In fact Friday I’m playing for the No. 1 doubles ranking! It’s tough not to think about it because everywhere I go, I read something about it or hear the guys talk. But when I’m on court practicing, I’m really not thinking about it.
Friday it might be a different situation for me. I’ve never played for No. 1. I’ll just try to take it as another match, as important as it is. At one point it might hit me but you’ve got to be ready to face that pressure.
Whatever happens, I’m very fortunate by the life that I have. I work with something that I love. We’ve been able to grow the game of doubles a lot the last 5-6 years. I think we’re in a nice position.
Next year, all the doubles in Masters events are going to be on TennisTV. People are going to be able to follow their favorite doubles players. Everybody’s going to get a lot more attention. Back home in Brazil, we’ve been getting huge attention in doubles, with our matches being on TV. So I think it will keep pushing people to get to know the game of doubles more and appreciate how nice it is, how different it is from singles – different skills, different players.
For me, personally, I get to travel the world, playing in amazing cities. I have met a lot of great people throughout my career. Now I’m sitting here, the winner of five Slams, two in doubles and three in mixed, No. 2 in the world and maybe No.1 one day… or maybe I should say literally one day, actually 24 hours from now!
So keep cheering for me! I feel very honored to have fans that take the time to watch me play, to cheer for me, to follow my career. This is something super special. I have a lot of respect for people who come and say, “I want to watch Bruno’s match because I like the guy, I like his career.”
Thank you very much for the support and keep cheering me up! I hope I can achieve many more things!