Since partnering up in early 2024, Heliovaara and Patten have won two Grand Slam Doubles titles together – that year’s Wimbledon crown and the Australian Open the following year. They came very close to adding a third this month, but fell short, losing the French Open Final at Roland Garros.
But the consolation for the Finnish-British duo was they did enough in Paris to move jointly to the top of the ATP Doubles rankings. It’s a goal the two have been working towards for a while, as is proven by the name of their WhatsApp group, “Road to Number One”.
Their success in a relatively short space of time makes the journey to the summit look inevitable, but with Heliovaara ranked 39th and Patten 63rd when they teamed up, two Grand Slams and world number one looked like a pipe dream, something the Finn opened up to Helsingin Sanomat about.
“Yes, there is still a feeling of disbelief about how this happened! I wouldn’t have believed this a few years ago,” he admits.
A straight-sets defeat in the French Open Final to number one seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (4–6, 2–6) was not how the pair wanted to reach the top: “Maybe enough time has passed. Honestly, I had a terrible feeling on the flight back to Finland. Simply put, it was a bad match, I wasn’t at my best,” says the Helsinki man, though the news changed his perspective.
“Fortunately, there is now reason to celebrate, the sadness of defeat will go away more quickly. The pride and sense of success will then last longer.”
Heliovaara suggested he wasn’t present enough in the Final when he reviewed the match with Patten, with whom open comminucation is the secret to their success: “Henry and I are able to take and give each other honest feedback. We try to be the best partners we can be for each other.”
The Finn was out of the game for four years before returning nearly a decade ago. So, what would he tell his 24-year-old self who was about to quit tennis?
“I would tell him to do exactly what you’re doing. I don’t know if I would be here now if I hadn’t stopped my career for a while.”
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had it better than now. I feel like I’ve won in life,” said the veteran, for whom challenging at the Olympics in two years time is not out of the question.
And what of the WhatsApp group, originally called “Road to Wimbledon”, which surely needs another new name?
“I raised that question in the group, but a new name hasn’t been come up yet. It’s definitely very high on my priority list,” he laughs.
