HENRY Patten’s Wimbledon journey started inputting courtside data for IBM – seven years on, he’s been busy keeping others crunching the numbers and stands just one win away from a fairytale men’s doubles title, writes WILL JENNINGS.

The breakthrough Manningtree star, 28, will take to the Centre Court stage for the first time in his turbulent career as he and Finnish partner Harri Heliövaara tussle with Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson for an improbable All England Club triumph.

Colchester-born Patten had never won a single match in SW19 heading into this year’s championships but accompanied by experienced Heliövaara, 35, has unexpectedly navigated his way to the brink of glory.

Patten’s trajectory towards the summit has been far from conventional.

The eloquent Essex ace admits he virtually quit the sport between the ages of 12 and 16, before rediscovering his passion during a scholarship at Culford School and going on to study at both UNC Asheville in North Carolina and Durham University.

When back in the UK each summer during those years spent across the pond, Patten – as his impressive LinkedIn profile puts it – ‘worked courtside at Wimbledon collecting data points from matches for IBM.’

Patten jokes he was never ‘good enough’ to work on any men’s doubles finals but now hopes to complete a ‘surreal’ sporting story as he bids to follow in fellow Brit Neal Skupski’s triumphant footsteps last year.

“I wasn’t expecting to be in this position at all,” said Patten, who beat defending champion Skupski and partner Michael Venus to book his place in the final.

“I used to work here doing the courtside stats for IBM – during college, I never intended to play professional tennis so I had summer internships working in wealth managements and those kind of things.

“At IBM, you were either on the outside courts or if you were good and switched on, the show court team. I was on the outside courts!

“It’s quite funny now because I can spot them in an IBM t-shirt, sitting in front of a computer and just inputting all of the data.

“It was a brutal job – but a really good experience and I really enjoyed it."

Patten, who only joined forces with former two-time major men’s doubles quarter-finalist Heliövaara in April, added: “It’s surreal for me given my pathway, which was not a very traditional one to the professional game.

“It’s amazing and I feel very privileged to be part of a final here.

“I’m very appreciative that Harri took a bit of a gamble to play with me – it’s nice to build a successful partnership and see that investment to pay off.

“It’s new ground for both of us now – we’ve been taking it one match at a time but now for the next match, we’re focusing on becoming Wimbledon champions.”

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