It was an end of an era in men's doubles tennis at the international level on Thursday as the much famed American doubles duo of Bob and Mike Bryan more popularly known as the 'Bryan Brothers' brought down the curtains on a glittering 22-year professional tennis career by announcing their retirement from the sport three days ahead of the US Open grand slam tournament.

The Bryan Twins will go down as the most successful men's doubles team in the history of tennis, clinching a record 119 doubles titles on the ATP tour together, including a staggering 16 Grand Slams, 39 ATP Masters 1000s and the ATP Finals title four times.

The Bryan Brothers also won laurels for the United States (USA) at the Olympics, winning the gold in the men's doubles event at London 2012 and were part of the US team which annexed the Davis Cup title in 2007.

Speaking on finally calling it quits from the sport after a highly successful two decade career Mike Bryan said - "We feel it's the right time to walk away," said Mike. "We've given over 20 years to the Tour, and we are now looking forward to the next chapter of our lives.

"We feel blessed to have been able to play the game of doubles for so long. We are grateful to have had the opportunities in the beginning of the year to play and say our goodbyes to the fans."

"We're most proud of the way we devoted ourselves completely to the game," said Bob. "Our loyalty toward each other never wavered and we are leaving professional tennis with zero regrets.

The Californian pair were the top-ranked doubles team in the world for an astounding 438 weeks and became the first team to clinch a 'Career Golden Masters' in 2014 with their Shanghai triumph which meant they had won all nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments.

"We'll miss the competition and camaraderie amongst the players. We'll also miss the excitement of gearing up for a big match and playing for the roar of the fans."