Henry Patten hoping ‘stressful’ Wimbledon victory will help Melbourne title bid
Patten and Finn Harri Heliovaara are through to the Australian Open men’s doubles final.
Henry Patten is hoping his second grand slam final has the same outcome as the first – but without the stress.
Patten and his Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara produced one of the more remarkable Wimbledon victories of recent years last summer in a nail-biting men’s doubles final against Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson.
They have backed that up impressively at the Australian Open, and survived another close match in the semi-finals, beating German fourth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 6-4 3-6 7-6 (10/7).
They came through some nervy moments, with Heliovaara down 0-40 on serve early in the third set before managing to hold, while Patten double-faulted at 4-5 in the tie-break, and will take on Italian third seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the final on Saturday.
“Maybe it will be a little bit easier before the match but I’m definitely expecting some nerves,” said Patten.
“We have the experience of the Wimbledon final, which was incredibly close, and obviously an incredibly big moment for us. It might help us to manage those nerves a little bit better.
“We know that we can perform very well, no matter how close the match gets. I hope the final isn’t as close as that one, it was all quite stressful, but maybe it will be and we know we can perform under those conditions. I’m sure it’ll be a big help to us.”
Patten and Heliovaara won four titles together in total last season, with the British player soaring from 69 in the rankings at the start of the year to 14 at the end of it.
He is now guaranteed to climb into the top 10, and he said: “We’re cementing ourselves at the top. It’s really exciting. We’re just trying to take it all in our stride and keep going.”
At 28, Patten will be the youngest man in the top 10, with doubles players frequently playing towards or into their 40s.
He is the latest success story for Britain in the format, with Jamie Murray, Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury all having won grand slam titles in the last decade.
“I certainly don’t feel like the young guy in the locker room but obviously the average age of the doubles guys is a bit older,” he said.
“I’m incredibly fortunate in that firstly I had lots of role models in the Brits. And now I get to play with Harri, who’s certainly more experienced than me, more wise than me and older than me. I’m just trying to learn as much as I can from them.”
Heliovaara, who quit the sport for several years because of a spinal condition, previously had a successful partnership with Britain’s Lloyd Glasspool, while he won the junior title at Melbourne Park in 2007 alongside Scot Graeme Dyce.
The 35-year-old remembers being helped by Judy Murray, while he now works with British national coach Louis Cayer.
“I owe them a lot,” he said. “It’s probably the biggest reason I’m up here is I chose to play with a Brit.”
Alfie Hewett will contest finals in both wheelchair singles and doubles after beating Gustavo Fernandez 6-3 6-3 and then teaming up with Gordon Reid to defeat Martin De La Puente and Ruben Spaargaren 6-4 6-4.
Andy Lapthorne is also through to the final of the quad wheelchair doubles with Dutchman Sam Schroder while Hannah Klugman will play in the girls’ doubles final alongside Australian Emerson Jones.
