It’s ours! Heliovaara and Patten won the Wimbledon men’s doubles crown after a thrilling finale.
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As far as sporting fairytales go, Henry Patten’s and Harri Heliovaara’s will rank high up.
The Brit and the Finn, who teamed up only in April and were competing in just their second Major as a pair, won the Wimbledon men’s doubles crown late on Saturday with a nerve-wracking 6-7(7), 7-6(8), 7-6(9) victory over the accomplished Australian duo of Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson.
Dream run
Patten and Heliovaara dumped out three top-10 seeds en route and saved three championship points against Purcell and Thompson, the 15th seeds.
Scratch doubles pairs that find quick success abound in tennis. But what makes the Patten-Heliovaara combine remarkable is that they had hardly played the sport full time.
Patten, 28, had never won a main draw match at SW19 and the longest he had stayed at the Wimbledon park area was while working for IBM in 2016 and ’17 collecting stats on the many outside courts.
“My first job at Wimbledon was doing the stats for IBM, which I guess got me familiar with the grounds,” Patten said after the triumph. “It might have given me some advantage. I don’t know.
The better job
“It was basically a summer job for two weeks. It paid pretty well, but it was hard work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite glad I’m playing now instead of doing the stats.”
Heliovaara, 35, might have won the 2023 US Open mixed doubles title, but he had quit playing more than a decade ago after failing to make it as a singles player. He then held jobs at the Finnish tennis federation and the Helsinki airport before a trip to Wimbledon as a tourist rekindled the interest.
“I stopped playing when I was 23,” he said. “I won one match in singles qualification at Wimbledon and I am very proud of that. After I finished my first career, I worked at the airport with my wife there. I studied. I worked as a management consultant, at some private equity internships.
“I think this [Wimbledon doubles win] gives me better feelings. Excel sheets in an office can’t compare to this. I never thought I’d be here and it would be this good.”