LONDON: Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten won one of the most dramatic Wimbledon doubles finals in history when they saved three championship points to defeat Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson.
In a contest of the finest of margins, Heliovaara and Patten required a hard-fought two hours and 49 minutes to record their 6-7(7), 7-6(8), 7-6 (11-9) win.
Purcell and Thompson were the fourth seeded team they defeated in their giant-killing run.
Heliovaara stopped playing tennis 11 years ago due to injury. He then earned a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree from Aalton University in a bit less than four years and worked at Helsinki Airport at 5 am each morning to serve as a passenger guide. He made his comeback in 2017 and has since won seven tour-level doubles titles.
The 28-year-old Patten, who worked as a statistician at the 2016 and 2017 Championships, combined with Heliovaara to claim the 2024 gentleman’s doubles title.
He becomes only the third British man of the Open era – alongside Jonathan Marray in 2012 and Neal Skupski in 2023 – to lift the trophy. The 35-year-old Heliovaara is the first Finnish man in history to win the title.
Heliovaara and Patten teamed up for the first time in April and quickly gelled as a partnership; taking in ATP title runs at Marrakech and Lyon, they entered Saturday's final with wins in 28 of the 32 matches they’d played.