Henry Patten hoping ‘stressful’ Wimbledon victory will help Melbourne title bid
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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.”.
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