THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 11, 2026

Harri Heliovaara

Henry Patten

Press Conference

HELIOVAARA-PATTEN/Arevalo-Pavic

7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference for our doubles champions, Henry and Harri. Who would like to ask the first question?

Q. Congratulations, guys. Tell us how that felt in front of a packed Centre Court.

HENRY PATTEN: Oh, so good. Yeah, I have to say the first time we did it obviously was in completely different circumstances. But seriously, I've said that Max Purcell said make the most of these moments, because you don't know how many you'll get.

To have another one of those moments at this tournament, it makes me very, very emotional. Makes Harri even more emotional, I think (smiling). Yeah, we feel very, very lucky and very proud as well of how we played.

Q. When you hit that ace at the end, what was the first thing that went through your mind?

HENRY PATTEN: Harri's going to be annoyed at that.

HARRI HELIOVAARA: He always finishes the big matches with an ace. I never get anything (smiling).

No, but I thought it was out. There's a split second where you're waiting for the call. Oh, no, there's no call. That means we have won.

It is the best feeling in the world in tennis. In sport, what's better than the split second when you know you've won?

HENRY PATTEN: It's an even better feeling when you hit the ace (smiling).

HARRI HELIOVAARA: Thank you. I agree.

HENRY PATTEN: You'll never know what that feels like.

HARRI HELIOVAARA: I did it in the first round. I remember that. My ace finished the first match.

HENRY PATTEN: Yeah, Harri is right. There's a moment where everything feels like it's in slow motion, and everything is silent. And then the crowd realizes and you realize. Then it kind of erupts. It's a good feeling.

Q. Henry, you're the first British man in the Open Era to win two Wimbledon doubles titles. How does that make you feel?

HENRY PATTEN: Very, very proud. It's pretty difficult these days to be a British doubles player and do something for the first time. We have such a strong group of players.

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't have been able to do that without them, to be honest, without the Neal Skupskis, Joe Salisburys, Jules, and Lloyd.

HARRI HELIOVAARA: Jamie.

HENRY PATTEN: Jamie, of course, who kind of kicked the whole thing off.

Yeah, but it's obviously, selfishly, I'm quite proud of that. It's not easy, like I say. To be part of British tennis history, yeah, is the stuff of dreams.

Q. What are your thoughts on the state of doubles within the tour and how that sits? Does it get the prominence it deserves?

HENRY PATTEN: Yeah, I've said it all week, every single round we've played, we started on Court 16, 17, something like that. Full crowd. We then played on Court 18, full crowd. Played on Court 2 a couple times, full crowd. Court 1, full crowd. Today, full crowd.

It's difficult, because it seems like no matter how many times you do that, there's like this very strong narrative that the product itself just isn't good enough. I don't think that's true.

I think we've kind of proven that to be wrong. Of course, Wimbledon plays a huge part in that. People come to Wimbledon to watch tennis, whether it's singles, doubles, wheelchair singles, wheelchair doubles, juniors, exhibition. People come to Wimbledon to watch tennis.

I feel strongly that doubles can play a strong part in that and can help the ATP Tour grow the game. I think that's what we should be focused on. No more in-fighting. It doesn't help anyone.

You know, let's focus on growth and investing in the sport and creating more opportunities for people from different backgrounds. I really care strongly about that.

I've been lucky enough to grow up in a fairly middle class household. Taking away doubles isn't going to help the poorer kids or the kids who are far away from tennis centers or the kids who can only play twice a week.

We should be encouraging people from all different backgrounds to play tennis and feel that they can make a living out of tennis. We should be growing that.

Q. A step or two you'd like to suggest?

HENRY PATTEN: Definitely. I think if you look at, for example, the ATP Tour's Instagram page on semifinal day, there was no men's singles matches that day, but there were no posts about doubles. I don't see why that is.

I don't know, it's difficult. I think it really requires a big cultural shift and a change in culture of the ATP, which is obviously a difficult thing to change in any organization.

But I just wish they had more of a growth mindset rather than seeing it purely as a pain in the ass, which is what it seems like at the moment. It's really difficult to change that. But I feel optimistic that we will be able to change it.

Q. The camaraderie between you two seems really exceptional. Henry, unless I'm mistaken, you seem to be the comedian. Harri, you seem to bring the calmness to the team. Am I right or wrong?

HENRY PATTEN: I think that shows that we did a good job on court today. We like to bounce off each other a bit.

Harri, I'll let you answer this one.

HARRI HELIOVAARA: No, it's what makes us strong. I think we believe in that. With the best team, we create that bubble where it's just the two of us inside that bubble. We can laugh at each other. We can have some disagreements. We can still trust ourselves, trust each other on the court.

I think the most important thing, we can be very honest with each other. You don't need to protect. There's no blame. It's just us. It works incredibly well on the tennis court, but it also works incredibly outside the tennis court.

I think that's where we're very lucky to play with each other, because it's not as easy for some other teams. I think we can really take some energy, take some positive from that, that we're really good friends.

We love to win tennis matches. We love to win tournaments. We love to win Wimbledon. Even if we don't, we still have a great time.

Q. You said earlier in the week that you need dialogue with the ATP. Any update on that?

HENRY PATTEN: Not really. We're hoping to set up some meetings. That's through the head of player relations at the ATP. I have to go through him. I asked for the contact details of the tournament directors of the ATP. I'd really like to speak to them, see if they have any ideas, see how doubles players can bring value to them outside of just playing doubles matches, whether that's ProAms, playing with sponsors, other things.

Instead of giving me the contacts, we have talk to the tournament board members, who then have to give us the okay to have the contacts. We haven't spoken to the player reps or the chairmen or the CEO.

So I'm optimistic that those meetings will happen with time. A small group of doubles players, hopefully be able to sit down and meet with the higher-ups, as it were.

I hope that will happen, but it hasn't happened yet. We're trying.

Q. I was going to ask you about Ellie. I'm imagining a nurse's station in a hospital where they're streaming it. Does she follow it?

HENRY PATTEN: Yeah, so the doctors, they have like a workroom in the hospital, which basically is for doing paperwork and those kinds of things.

As far as I'm aware, it's either like a live stream of a safari that they have on often. I hope that maybe the final today might have trumped that, but I don't know. She definitely would have been watching, at least following as much as she can do, yeah.

But yeah, at work, she's unbelievably talented and is the brains of the relationship, yeah. Good for her, I guess.

Q. You both come from countries with reputations for knowing how to throw a good party. Your last Grand Slam title, it was basically a McDonald's at 4 in the morning somewhere in South Melbourne. Do you have slightly more grand plans for this evening? Might you watch the football?

HARRI HELIOVAARA: We have to. First time we won here, it was late night. We did not celebrate. The second time we won a slam, it was even later. We didn't celebrate.

Saturday, 4 p.m. Oh, my God (smiling). Yes, let's go.

HENRY PATTEN: My family - we obviously have to come in here, we have to do drugs test - they couldn't wait to open the Champagne, all that. They're already getting going. We can't wait to join the party.

Q. Harri, you spoke earlier about making a mark in British tennis history. I want to ask you, you're not a member here. Do you feel two titles now, would you like a membership?

HENRY PATTEN: Yeah, I'd love one. It seems like quite a nice club, I don't know (smiling).

Yeah, I'd love to. If they let me in, I'll take it. Obviously I now spend a lot of time in the States, North Carolina. I have to say I wouldn't be here that often, but if they'll have me, yeah, absolutely.