FINED Wimbledon doubles star Henry Patten crashed out of the tournament in a three-set thriller – but now faces his toughest match getting £9,000 back.
The Brit, 29, was smacked with the massive penalty for an incident on the training courts where he “verbally abused staff” for cutting his practice session short last week.
And his tournament run was also ended early today as he and Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara were dumped out by all-Brit combo Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash.
Patten has refused to talk about the fine or what he said to trigger the disciplinary action.
After the quarter-final clash, Patten, who banks £43,750, refused again to reveal details of the supposed altercation which has cost him 20 per cent of his prize funds.
He told SunSport: “I’m appealing it. That’s all I have to say. I’m appealing that decision.”
Asked if he thought he would win his claim, the star added: “I don’t know. I haven’t been through this process before. No idea how it works or anything.
“I sent an email to the appeals, the email I was given, and I think they take it from there.
“The process starts after the tournament’s finished. I really have no idea.”
Patten and Heliovaara, 36, were the defending champions in West London but had to take on Glasspool, Cash and a busy No2 Court crowd which rallied behind the two home stars.
They came from behind to force a deciding set but squandered three match points to slump to a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 defeat.
Heliovaara also had words with the umpire after their opponents began talking to each other during rallies, though their claim of hindrance was dismissed.
He said of the incident: “There were a couple of times the opponents hit a ball up in the air, and then they talked about their positioning to each other. Strictly by the rules, you’re not allowed to talk when the opponent’s about to hit the ball because it might hinder them.
“But in doubles, it is a very difficult line to have.”
Patten, who joked he would be “a normal person” and take some time off, added: “It’s disappointing not to get across the line.
“We’ve won two slams, we’ve lost in lots of slams.
“We are well aware of the challenge, and I think we prepared as well as we can. I think we were playing pretty good tennis today. We can both hold our heads high.”
Heliovaara added: “I can’t really say how much it feels. Obviously, we were very close to winning, so we didn’t do much wrong when we had match points.
“It’s doubles, it’s small margins. Grass court makes it even smaller margins. We were playing against two great players, two good friends.”
Semi-final newbies Cash and Glasspool are on a 12-match winning streak, having taken titles at both Queen’s and Eastbourne.
The duo have been partners for less than a year but say their calmness could be the deciding factor in going all the way to glory.
Cash, 28, said: “The confidence that we have built, especially over this grass period, really helps in those moments and keeps us calmer than we normally would be.”
To reach the final they must power past Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos tomorrow in the last four.
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