British Wimbledon winner who used to work in brutal SW19 job ‘can’t really remember’ final | Tennis | Sport
Just minutes after winning the Wimbledon men’s doubles, Brit Henry Patten admitted that he cannot remember much from his triumph with Harri Heliovaara. He was victorious alongside his partner in the doubles final on Centre Court this evening.
Patten and Heliovaara came from a set down to defeat Australian pair Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson. In a tight and physically gruelling affair, each set was decided by a tiebreaker.
His Wimbledon crown is the first Grand Slam of Patten’s career. However, he revealed afterwards that he could not remember much detail from the match.
The 28-year-old from Colchester said: “Guys, you are all amazing out there. It couldn’t have been a closer match and I can’t really remember what happened. For me the most special thing is to do it in front of so many people who have come over.”
Patten is ranked 43rd in the doubles rankings. His previous joint-best Grand Slam performance was reaching the third rounds at the French and US Opens.
Before Saturday’s final, Patten revealed that he worked a ‘brutal’ job at Wimbledon for technological giant IBM. The role involved collecting data from matches at the Championships, but he admitted that he was only ever asked to work on the outside courts.
Little did he know that he would one day win a Wimbledon tournament on Centre Court.
“I worked here in the summers while I was at college,” Patten recalled. “I worked for IBM doing the courtside stats. During college I was never intending to play professional tennis.
“You’re either put in the outside courts team or if you’re good and switched on then you get put on the show court team and I was always on the outside. In the first year I was absolutely buzzing because you’re right next to the tennis.
“And then about four days in you just break down. It’s brutal. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t promoted! But it was a good experience. I did it in 2016 and 2017.
“When I’m playing I can usually see them, especially on the outside courts, in an IBM T-shirt sitting in front of a computer just tapping buttons and inputting all of the data.”
Patten’s victory came after Barbora Krejcikova won the women’s singles final against Jasmine Paolini. Krejcikova won Wimbledon for the first time, adding to her 2021 French Open triumph. On Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic will clash on Centre Court once again to decide the men’s champion.
