Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten are no strangers to facing top doubles teams on major tennis stages. However, they will experience something new on Wednesday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
For the first time in their careers, Heliovaara and Patten will play against Novak Djokovic, who is teaming up with Fernando Verdasco in the final event of Verdasco’s professional career. The wildcard pairing of Djokovic and Verdasco will look to challenge the second seeds, Heliovaara and Patten, in a second-round matchup at the hard-court ATP 500 tournament.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Patten told ATPTour.com in Doha. “There will be a lot of people watching and media attention, which is great for doubles and for us. We’ll try to bring our best and show them what we can do.”
Heliovaara also shared his excitement, saying, “I’ve played against Grand Slam singles champions like [Marin] Cilic and [Stan] Wawrinka, and top players like [Stefanos] Tsitsipas and [Alexander] Zverev, but Novak is on another level. It’s going to be different, and I’m sure the crowd will support him, but I’m really excited.”
Since partnering in Marrakech last April, Heliovaara and Patten have enjoyed tremendous success, winning five tour-level titles, including two Grand Slam victories at 2024 Wimbledon and the 2025 Australian Open. Despite their strong form, they are still mindful of the challenge posed by Djokovic and Verdasco, both seasoned competitors with impressive singles and doubles careers. Djokovic has won 99 singles titles, while Verdasco has ranked as high as No. 7 in singles and No. 8 in doubles.
“The singles players are tough because they hit the ball so well from the baseline, which you don’t always see from doubles players,” Patten explained. “But they might not be as used to reacting at the net or the patterns that doubles players usually use.”
Patten added, “It’s going to be interesting. I’m really curious to see how Djokovic hits the ball. It should be fun.”
Heliovaara and Patten, currently at the top of the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings following their Australian Open win, will look to extend their seven-match winning streak in Wednesday’s match. They are committed to improving with every match, no matter how small the improvement.
“There’s always something to work on,” Patten said after their first-round win over Tallon Griekspoor and Adam Pavlasek, 7-6(4), 6-3. “After today’s match, we’ll probably focus on improving our first-serve percentage.”
Heliovaara joked, “What better challenge than playing against Djokovic? We’re working on our serve, and now we get to see how it feels to play against one of the best returners in history. Let’s see if the ball comes back.”