NOTEBOOK: Bryan brother Bob in fatherhood race for time

Jan 22, 2012, 2:14 GMT

Melbourne - Bob Bryan is hoping that his luck holds out as his wife prepares to give birth half a world away in Miami while her husband contends for the doubles title at the Australian Open.

Bob and twin brother Mike are top seed at the event which they have won for the past three years.

The birth is due on Saturday, which also happens to be the day of the Open final. Should timings on both sides of the Pacific go as per plan, the birth could be another of the long-distance affairs which are not that unusual in tennis.

Frenchman Gilles Simon had to rush home from a recent US Open a few days after the birth of his son while a decade ago, Andre Pavel of Romanian travelled through the night to and from Paris for the birth of his child, returning in time to play a semi-final.

As might be expected, Roger Federer's twins arrived with impeccable timing between tournaments in July, 2009.

Bryan, 33, is hoping for the best anyway. 'I'm going to stick around until the tournament's over, but hopefully I won't have to have a Skype baby, I don't want a Skype baby.'

Bob and Mike Bryan pair own 11 Grand Slam doubles titles and would love to wrap up an even dozen next weekend. The father-to-be is trying to bury his guilt feeling at not being present for the impending birth,

'It's tough, I definitely feel a little guilty, but Michelle is like: 'Go stay focused. Don't even think about the baby.' So she's totally on board with this tennis thing,' he said.

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NOTEBOOK: Serena William no friend of the insect kingdom =

Melbourne (dpa) - Tennis ball-basher Serena Williams is showing few weak points as she rolls through the draw at the Australian Open. But the American 12th seed has discovered her own weak point - an distaste for the insects large small and not-so-small which come out at night and onto the well-lit courts at the Grand Slam.

Williams admits that she's not fan of creepy-crawlies. 'Bugs fell on my back twice. I hate bugs more than you can imagine. I hate bugs. Like, they kept jumping on me. I just - yuck!'

She had to ask a ballboy to remove a flying creature from the court where it had landed, and said that day matches would now be her preference.

But the request had to be modified slightly when she was reminded that the women's final falls next Saturday night. 'I'm going to request not to play at night anymore because I hate bugs, except for the final. I heard it's at night, though. I'll try to get used to them.'