Britain has a 2024 Wimbledon champion after Henry Patten and his Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara saved four match points to win the men’s doubles title.
The 28-year-old from Colchester had never won a match at Wimbledon before this fortnight but is now only the third British man to claim this title since 1936.
In a match without a single break of serve, Patten and Heliovaara won two of three tie-breaks, beating Australian pair Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson 7-6, 6-7, 7-6.
In the moment of victory, Heliovaara tore off his cap and sank weeping to his knees.
‘We got a little lucky today but you need luck to win a tennis match sometimes,’ said the 35-year-old. ‘The tears say it all, it’s very emotional.’
Patten added: ‘It couldn’t have been a closer match, I can’t really remember what happened. The most special thing is to do it in front of so many family members, my best friends.’
They also did it in front of a packed Centre Court, with very few having left after the women’s final.
It has been quite the journey for Patten, who in 2016 was working at Wimbledon recording statistics for data company IMB and assumed that would be the closest he would ever get to Centre Court.
It was only while studying for a finance master’s degree in Durham that he became part of a highly successful university tennis team, and from there he transitioned into the professional game.
He and Heliovaara have formed a superb partnership. ‘Harri took a little bit of a gamble to play with me given the gap in the rankings and gap in experience as well,’ Patten said before the final.
‘Obviously he thought I was a good player but it meant he had to drop down a little bit. We played some Challengers together, which he hadn’t done for a while and so I’m really appreciative of that because there’s a lot of guys out there that are really focusing on just trying to play in the biggest events they can rather than building a successful partnership.’
Last night, Heliovaara’s leap of faith spectacularly paid off.
