Photo by Alastair Grant
AP

Camarillo's Bob Bryan, left, and Australia's Samantha Stosur hold their mixed doubles trophies after the duo beat Bob Bryan and Katarina Srebotnik in the final.

Mixed doubles struggles for media attention even without competition from other matches.

But there was absolutely no hope for Camarillo's Bob and Mike Bryan on Sunday night at Wimbledon.

Overshadowed by an epic men's singles final, and eventually complete darkness, the twins made a rare appearance on opposite sides of the net in front of a sparse crowd at the All England Club.

Bob Bryan paired with Australian Samantha Stosur to continue his household mixed supremacy as the unseeded tandem upset top-seeded Mike Bryan and Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 7-5, 6-4 in the final.

The match was scheduled to take place on Centre Court following the men's singles final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

But with rain delays prolonging the gripping battle between Nadal and Federer, the doubles was sent to Court 1 rather than face postponement. The Bryans didn't begin play until 8:32 p.m.

Kathy Bryan had a front-row computer seat from her Somis home to watch her sons go head to head. She paid $24 to download all the doubles matches at Wimbledon.

"It was really good tennis," she said. "It's just a shame that it came on when it did. The mixed doubles have been drawing great crowds all week. The English love it, and I think everyone would have enjoyed the final."

When the Nadal-Federer match finished at 9:18, Bryan and Stosur were leading 3-1 in the second set and there were discussions of suspending the match because of poor lighting.

But they decided to continue, and Bryan and Stosur closed out their victory in near darkness after 61 minutes when Mike hit a return into the net at 9:33.

The Bryans, ranked No. 1 in the world in men's doubles, never played against each other in singles growing up to prevent a competitive strain on their brotherhood.

"We played every day after school on the practice courts and we always tried to kill each other," Bob said. "We were always at each other's throats."

But mixed doubles has always been fair game, and neither can suffer a monetary loss in the outcome.

The 30-year-olds will deposit both Wimbledon checks into their joint bank account.

But Bob has clearly been the breadwinner in mixed, with Mike even nicknaming him his "ATM."

The victory marked Bob's fifth Grand Slam mixed title, and second this season. The lefty — the younger twin by two minutes — teamed with Victoria Azarenka to win the French Open in June.

Coincidentally, the only other time the brothers met in a mixed doubles final, Bob was paired with Srebotnik and lost to Mike and partner Lisa Raymond at the U.S. Open in 2002.

Although Bob and Stosur were unseeded, it was a deceptive overlook.

Stosur is a quality doubles player, having reached the Wimbledon women's final on Saturday and losing to another famous sibling pair — Venus and Serena Williams.

Stosur has captured four Grand Slam titles overall — two in mixed and two in women's with partner Lisa Raymond. But she missed a large portion of last season with Lyme disease and a viral infection, which caused her ranking to fall.

Aside from causing meager attendance, the mixed doubles delay put a crimp in the Bryans' celebration plans.

The musically inclined pair were hoping to watch the Counting Crows perform on Sunday night at the 02 Wireless Festival at Hyde Park in London.

But by the time the match ended, the Crows would have been nearing the final hour of their only UK festival appearance.