UNC Asheville now has a Wimbledon champion among its alumni base.
Former UNC Asheville men’s tennis player Henry Patten won the men’s doubles tournament at Wimbledon on Saturday in a tightly contested and thrilling final. Patten, from Manningtree, Essex, United Kingdom, and his partner Harri Heliovaara of Finland took down No. 15-seeded Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (11-9).
Patten and Heliovaara had to stave off three match points to earn the victory.
Patten and Heliovaara became the first unseeded doubles pair the win the men’s crown since 2014. After the Australian duo hit match point into the net, Patten and Heliovaara each fell to their knees as emotion took over.
Back from the brink 🤯🫨
Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten save three Championship points to defeat Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell 6-7(7), 7-6(8), 7-6(11-9) and win the Gentlemen’s Doubles title 🏆#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/uAiSc5Jj14
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 13, 2024
Patten, 28, made his Wimbledon debut in 2020, where he and partner Julian Cash fell in the first round.
Patten graduated from Asheville in 2019, where he was a three-time Big South Player of the Year and finished with a 60-9 singles record.
As a senior in the fall of 2018, Patten and doubles partner Oli Nolan took home a national championship at the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships. The pair would be ranked No. 1 nationally for three polls by the Oracle Intercollegiate Tennis Association, before falling to No. 2 for most of the spring.
As a junior, Patten became the first Bulldog to reach the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the round of 32 before falling to Tennesse’s Timo Stodder, 6-2, 6-3.
Evan Gerike is the high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @EvanGerike. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: UNCA’s Henry Patten wins men’s doubles tournament at Wimbledon
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