Tennis:The Bryan brothers survived a severe bout of nerves in the build-up to their doubles match on Saturday before earning the United States a first Davis Cup title in 12 years.
Firmly established as the world's number one doubles team, Bob and Mike Bryan crushed Russians Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev 7-6 6-4 6-2 to give the Americans an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five match final.
Winners of five grand slam titles together and U.S. team regulars since 2003, the Bryans felt the burden of expectation from the home fans at a near-capacity Memorial Coliseum.
"We're the heavy favourites and we have all the pressure on us," Mike Bryan, 29, told a news conference after he and his brother had sealed victory in one hour and 56 minutes.
"It's been the worst anticipation waiting for this match. The pressure was unbelievable.
"I don't know how we seemed relaxed out there but my stomach was just churning. I didn't sleep that great for probably the last week."
The nerves of the occasion, with the Americans bidding for their first Davis Cup success since 1995, hit brother Bob even harder.
"I just puked my guts out in the shower about 10 minutes ago," he said after being a late arrival for the U.S. team's news conference.
"I've been nauseous for three days and I'm not going to try to hide that my stomach as doing back flips.
"It was a lot of emotion, especially running out for those intros with the crowd going nuts, fireworks, the whole deal," he added, referring to the build-up for Friday's opening singles.
"It was sometimes hard just to play the ball today with all that's riding on the match. You got guys that you want to win it for.
"But it doesn't matter how we get the three points, it's just putting all the individual goals aside and getting it done as a team."
The Bryan brothers were ecstatic after securing victory for the U.S. team with their 13th doubles triumph in 14 Davis Cup appearances.
"It's amazing to have won this Davis Cup," left-hander Bob Bryan said. "We're all feeling great right now."
His right-handed brother added: "It was a dream for us to win the final match and have the guys rush and come jump around with us. There's nothing like it."