Wimbledon Doubles Champion Henry Patten On His Deep Passion For Chess

British tennis star Henry Patten, fresh off his Wimbledon doubles victory, opened up about his passion for chess in an exclusive interview with Chess.com and revealed the game has sharpened his mind and benefited his tennis career.

Patten is a British professional tennis player, who has been ranked as high as world number-17 in doubles and attained a career-high singles ranking of world number-462 in 2022, comparable to a 2550-2600-rated grandmaster in chess.

In a thrilling final last month, he clinched the Wimbledon doubles title alongside his Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara, their third career doubles title on the ATP Tour.

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

But Patten isn't just a renowned tennis player, he also has a deep passion for chess and is playing actively on Chess.com. Our own FM Mike Klein conducted an exclusive interview with the 28-year-old, who shared a fascinating glimpse into his journey to tennis glory and how chess has benefited his tennis career.

Patten didn't play much chess while a college tennis player at UNC Asheville, NC, but like so many others picked up the game seriously during the pandemic. Since then he has become an avid chess player, so much so that he even plays chess during tournaments or before matches.

"I just love the strategy. I love the game. I love competing. I'm a competitive person and I love to win and hate to lose in chess. I just really love it and it happens to fit in really well with my career right now," he told Klein.

I just love the strategy. I love the game. I love competing. I'm a competitive person and I love to win and hate to lose in chess.

—Henry Patten

On his Chess.com account Patten has played close to 3,000 games across all time-controls, and has solved almost 10,000 puzzles. His peak puzzle rating of 2300 shows he has come a long way already. While competing in Wimbledon, he even played four games, winning twice and losing the other two. "Chess has helped me strategically. I love to play it to pass time at events to kind of keep my mind working and active. It has definitely helped me."

It was unlikely decisive for his triumph in Wimbledon, but it most certainly didn't hurt to play this excellent rapid game a few days before the start:

Here's Patten's daily chess routine: "I always try and do the daily puzzle. That's the first thing that I'll do. And maybe fire up a few other puzzles. That's my daily touchpoint of chess. I wake up and I do the daily puzzle on Chess.com, depending on where I am in the world because of the time differences. But yeah, I do the daily puzzle on Chess.com and a quick crypto crossword puzzle on my phone. That kind of gets me ready for the day."

"I've been slacking on the live games. It's been a stressful few weeks. But I've generally been playing more daily games, and I also love that because it just means I can pick up my phone at any time during the day, play a move, and then I, you know, I don't have to worry about it for however long," Patten said.

Why do you prefer daily over bullet, or is it just kind of the mood you're in at the time? Klein asked.

"It's the mood I'm in. Bullet and blitz is stressful for me. My favorite time controls are probably rapid, so kind of 15 minutes plus. And I like to have an increment if I'm playing, so it doesn't get too close at the end. And also daily games. I think if I was better at chess, maybe I would like to play blitz and bullet. I know one of my really good friends, a British player, I think his rating is 1900, he's got it up to on, on blitz, so that's great to see and is inspiring for me."

The chess world isn't new to hearing about tennis stars drawn to chess. Wimbledon legend Boris Becker has appeared during major chess events and famously played Garry Kasparov in an exhibition game in New York in 2000. He lost after 18 moves.

In 2014, 24-time Grand Slam singles winner Novak Djokovic shared an image of playing chess against the German legend before the start of Wimbledon. Becker later appeared at the opening of the 2019 SuperBet Grand Chess Tour where he played against GM Fabiano Caruana.

In addition to Djokovic, the other two of the "Big Three" are also known chess fans. Rafael Nadal, whom Magnus Carlsen said has inspired him for his tenacious style on the court, was recently pictured carrying a tournament-sized wooden chessboard during a tournament in Sweden.

20-time Grand Slam Champion Roger Federer has also spoken repeatedly about his love for the game. Last summer the Swiss legend even met ChessKid Ambassador FM Tanitoluwa Adewumi for a game in New York City. Adewumi later estimated his level to be around 1500.

Federer ended his career in 2022 and joked just a few months ago that he'll be spending his retirement by playing online chess against strangers. Does Patten think he has better chances against the 42-year-old in tennis or chess?

"I'll take my chances over the chessboard. I think! I would love to play chess against him. I think on the doubles court I'd probably back myself. In singles, there hasn't really been a player like him for quite some time, so I wouldn't be bold enough to say that I would beat him on the singles court right now."

I'll take my chances over the chessboard, I think! I would love to play chess against him.

—Henry Patten on facing Roger Federer in chess

We could go on and on with examples of chess-loving tennis stars, but ATP world number-one Carlos Alcaraz also deserves a mention. Alcaraz recently spoke about his passion for the game in an interview with Vogue: “I love chess. Having to concentrate, to play against someone else, strategy—having to think ahead. I think all of that is very similar to the tennis court.”

The Spanish 21-year-old even appeared as a bot on Chess.com last year, but it was no match for the British Wimbledon winner who revealed: "I played him and beat him. I made a point to play him, and I took him down. So I was very pleased with that."

Patten also talked about the many similarities between the sports: "We always will do a kind of scouting report on our opponents no matter who we're playing. So we'll come up with specific strengths and weaknesses that they might have and how we can target that," he said.

"Obviously they're very different games in their own right. But the strategy in singles especially, but also doubles. It's quite an individual sport too. And you're kind of left out there on your own. I think chess has helped my tennis quite a lot."

 I think chess has helped my tennis quite a lot.

—Henry Patten

While tennis players have been drawn to chess, there's also plenty of chess players drawn to tennis. GMs Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Gukesh Dommaraju, to name just a few, are all keen players. Why is that?

"That's a really good question. I can explain it from my side, but I guess maybe it's the kind of one versus one aspect that is really attractive probably to chess players, into tennis, and compared to other sports. Maybe tennis is a bit more strategic and it's not just pure kind of athleticism. There is lots of strategy involved trying to target weaknesses and plan out your point in that way," Patten said.

Unseeded. Unstoppable.

Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten are the first unseeded pair to win the Gentlemen's Doubles Trophy since 2014 🏆#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/QawPcm0KkV

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 13, 2024

Do you have any chess heroes or stars that you look up to?

"Certainly Magnus Carlsen, and Hikaru. They are phenomenal players. Levy Rozman, GothamChess, of course. I've watched so many of his videos. A couple of years ago I was basically falling asleep to his videos every night <laugh>. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing for him, but I loved his videos. Eric Rosen, who I think plays a bit of tennis as well, I watched a bunch of his videos. So lots people that I enjoy to watch, admire greatly."

I've watched so many of his videos. A couple of years ago I was basically falling asleep to his videos every night.

—Henry Patten on GothamChess

Patten's path to Wimbledon victory this July, was marked by intense moments, including several match points in the finals. Patten reflected on the pressure they were facing, "I've certainly watched the tiebreak and obviously I've seen the video of the match point over and over again. It was a really special emotional moment for me and my partner." 

Patten's next events are in Washington, Montreal, and Cincinnati before he'll be playing the US Open, "It's one of my favorite tournaments. So I'm really looking forward to that," he said.

Both the chess world and the tennis world will certainly be watching Patten's next moves with great interest.