Australian Open 2025: Henry Patten on Harri Heliovaara & Wimbledon
Patten, 28, is a late bloomer who majored in finance at an American university.
In 2016, he spent his summer working on the outdoor courts at Wimbledon as a data analyst for IBM.
Heliovarra, 35, halted his career in 2013 due to an autoimmune disease of the spine.
“I never really aspired to be a professional tennis player when I was a junior or in college. I just kept doing well and it just kind of snowballed,” Patten said.
“Harry thought it was time for him to finish when he stopped playing singles. He was working at an airport, had a spell in finance and then came back to the sport.
“Right now we are all very focused on tennis, but our backgrounds are multifaceted.”
Patten said that even though they had only been together since April, he felt like he had known Heliovara for years.
Their friendship further strengthened when Patten traveled to Helsinki for a week of training in October and lived at home with Heliovara, his wife and two young children.
After his rigorous training, Patten was keen to learn and experience as much as possible about the Finnish way of life.
After regularly traveling around the capital to visit tourist sites, Heliovaara cooks home-cooked meals, including his signature reindeer stew.
“Halfway through he told me he was cooking, so I was a little nervous about the outcome,” Patten said with a laugh.
“It’s very good. I give him a lot of credit and he gives a lot of credit to his cooking.
“I don’t know what effect it had on him, but he seemed to think he was doing a good job.”
This sense of humor, coupled with a deep mutual respect, has cemented a stable partnership that they hope will give them a head start on the many new boy bands that are coming together this season.
The goal for the new season is naturally to start with winning another Grand Slam title in Melbourne, and then making a more consistent concerted effort to break into the top ten in the world on the ATP Tour.
“Everyone else is kind of scrambling and wondering how these partnerships are going to pan out,” Patten said.
“We know our partnership works and works very well.
“We’re looking forward to moving forward. We still have a lot to achieve.”
