Patten’s partners make it dream week for him at ATP Finals

Great Britain’s Henry Patten completed a life-changing visit to Turin by becoming an ATP Finals champion for the first time – a week after the nerve-jangling moment of proposing to his girlfriend in the city.

Patten, from Essex, said the lucrative season-ending tournament had “taken quite a big back seat” to his engagement plans.

But he got the answer he hoped for from long-time partner Ellie as they looked out over the city from a hilltop basilica last Sunday.

The unforgettable trip then became all the more special as he and Finland’s Harri Heliovaara triumphed together seven days later, winning 7-5 6-3 against Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski in the doubles final to earn a shared prize of about £660,000.

The success comes at the end of a year that began with Patten and Heliovaara adding an Australian Open title to their 2024 Wimbledon victory.

Patten, 29, praised his beaten compatriots and thanked his support team in a post-match speech, before adding: “I have to give a special mention to my new fiancee, Ellie. I thought Turin was a pretty romantic place and luckily she said ‘yes’. Thank you for the support and I can’t wait to enjoy our time together.”

If this proves to be Salisbury and Skupski’s last match together, as is expected, then their year-long partnership ended in a familiar feeling of disappointment in a major final, having also been beaten in the French Open and US Open title matches.

Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers took them down in both Grand Slam finals, and in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

“We’ve had some great times, we’ve had some tough times,” Salisbury said after their latest defeat on a big stage.

This time the British pair faced a team they had beaten in the round-robin stage, but they were wary that Patten and 36-year-old Heliovaara were off their game on that occasion and expected a greater test in the final.

That is how it played out.

After the first 11 games went with serve, big-hitting from Patten and a Salisbury double fault put Heliovaara and Patten on the brink of the opening set, which was secured when Skupski’s volley on the stretch found the net.

The decisive break in the second set came in game six when Skupski’s serve gave way, a fizzing forehand from Heliovaara on break point too hot to put back in play.

Salisbury has twice been a champion at this event alongside American Rajeev Ram, but this was not to be his and Skupski’s day.

Patten began the week by saying his engagement was “so much more important” than the outcome on court, but he got to experience the best of both worlds.