Henry Patten secures stunning Wimbledon doubles success with Harri Heliovaara

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Henry Patten had an impressive performance at Wimbledon, winning the men's doubles title with his Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara. This victory made him the first British player to win the 2024 Championships.

Patten and Heliovaara began playing together in April and surprised everyone by defeating several top-ranked players on their way to their first grand slam final as a team.

Facing off against Australian duo Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, Patten and Heliovaara were able to save three opportunities for their opponents to win the match in the second set. Eventually, the pair secured an impressive 6-7 (7) 7-6 (8) 7-6 (11/9) victory, much to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd at Centre Court.

Colchester-born Patten became just the third British player to win the men's doubles Wimbledon title in the Open era, joining Neal Skupski and Jonathan Marray.

"It was a really tight game and I honestly can't recall all the details," Patten thought back.

The most meaningful part for me is performing in front of a large audience that includes my closest friends and family. Thank you to everyone who came to support me.

Patten and Heliovaara, both from Colchester, only began partnering in April. However, Patten has the potential to become a British champion at the upcoming Championships.

Eight years ago, Patten could be seen on a lesser-known court at Wimbledon, keeping track of data for IBM, the company responsible for gathering statistics during the tournament.

Patten humorously claimed he never quite made the cut to play on a main court, but that's where he found himself frequently during the exciting previous two weeks.

He mentioned, "During my college days, I had a job with IBM where I kept track of stats for the games played on the tennis courts. Depending on your performance, you could be placed on either the outside courts team or the show court team."

"And I was constantly excluded! It's tough. I'm not sure if they have modified it now, but at that time, it was a schedule of two hours working and 40 minutes off, and I kept at it for two years."

During my first year, I was extremely excited because I was so close to the tennis court, which was incredible.

"After about four days, I reached my breaking point. This could be the reason I didn't get a promotion, but overall, it was a valuable learning experience."

Patten had never advanced past the third round of a major tennis tournament prior to this year's Wimbledon. However, she has now managed to reach the final at SW19, a remarkable achievement that has overshadowed her previous job at IBM.

The past few months have been very busy for the 28-year-old. He started his professional career in 2020, but at the end of a successful 2022, he decided to concentrate on playing doubles. During that year, he and his fellow Briton Julian Cash won an impressive 10 titles together.

Following the split between Patten and Cash, Norwich supporter Patten joined forces with Heliovaara, who is also the 2023 US Open mixed doubles champion, in April. The duo has already won two titles together and are now aiming to achieve a third victory.

"I believe it's worth mentioning, and I'm very thankful for this, Harri took a risk by playing with me despite the difference in rankings and experience," Patten said.

Many people are solely focused on participating in large competitions instead of working on building a strong relationship. It's refreshing to see that dedication and effort can lead to success.