CORONADO, Calif. — Have you ever tried completing a stressful project with a sibling? What about competing in a tennis tournament?
In this Zevely Zone, I went to the Coronado Tennis Center to meet the Blando Brothers. When it comes to playing tennis doubles, twins share a bond like no other, on and off the court.
"For us, it's mostly ordering the same thing or always having the same answer for most of the things people ask us questions, when we go to restaurants, he doesn't tell me what he is ordering but he always orders the same thing as me," said Mike and Jay Blando.
The 19-year-old brothers are fraternal twins which inevitably brings up comparisons to the Bryan Brothers.
"Nice guys they are really outgoing, they are really cool guys to be around," said Mike.
Ernie Blando, the boys' father, taught his sons how to play tennis early in life and tempted the twins with treats along the way.
"Yeah, I started them off when they were two years old and got a couple of racquetball racquets and just started them hitting the ball in the court," said Ernie.
"Little ice cream and cookies, so as they got older, I said I'll give ten bucks every time you win. I was down 1,500 dollars one year."
Their sports tale is similar to the Tiger Woods story and the Serena and Venus Williams story who also started their careers young.
"Yeah, you got to dream. Nothing is impossible," said Ernie.
"They are stronger as a doubles team, but if they happen to play with each other."
At that very moment, during our interview, Ernie caught a ball that was soaring by him without skipping a beat.
"Just like you, I played volleyball and tennis my whole life," said Ernie.
Joel Myers, the twin's coach, and director of the Coronado Tennis Center hit that errant ball that Ernie snatched out of the sky.
"Yeah, reflexes of a cat. That was my shank," said Joel who added communication is the key to doubles and the Blando Brothers have great chemistry.
"They know where they are going and they know where each other is going to be which really helps," said Joel.
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Graduates of Rancho Bernardo High School, the tennis twins are continuing their careers as sophomores at UC Riverside. At RB High, the brothers were runner ups their junior year in high school but won the CIF Championship their senior year.
"Go Broncos, yeah I loved that team," said Mike and Jay. This dynamic duo can't count the number of tournaments they've won. Usually moving in perfect harmony on the court, we did find footage of the tennis tandem experiencing one chest bump malfunction.
"Oh gosh I think we fell," laughed Mike. Maybe the next they collect a trophy they will switch things up.
"Ah, it could be like a high five," laughed Jay.
But if the Blando Brothers win an NCAA doubles championship the chest bump is back.
The brothers would love to play tennis doubles professionally but if that doesn't work out, they will have college degrees to fall back on. Mike is studying business. Jay is majoring in statistics.