A BARNSLEY man is celebrating Wimbledon glory this week.
Calvin Betton, from New Lodge, is the coach of Henry Patten who won the men’s doubles title in front of a full Centre Court on Saturday.
Patten, from Essex, took the title with Finnish player Harri Heliövaara – winning 11-9 in the third set tie-break against an Australian duo.
Bretton, 45, said: “It’s a career highlight for me and, because I am not married and haven’t got any kids, it was probably the best day of my life.
“This was always something I wanted to achieve as a coach.
“It was phenomenal the way the match panned out.
“Everyone was saying it was the best doubles final ever.
“Henry and Harri had never played or practised on Centre Court or played in front of a crowd anywhere near that big.”
Betton is an outspoken figure on social media about tennis and had an online disagreement this week with American ex-player Andy Roddick who criticised the standard of modern doubles.
Betton’s journey to centre court glory started in Barnsley.
He said: “My dad played with his mates at the community park courts at Stainborough on a Sunday morning. I just used to play with them until I was 14 then I went to a Barnsley Tennis Club summer camp and started playing a lot more.”
Calvin reached county and regional level as a player but turned to coaching aged 21 in 1999 and spent eight years as Barnsley’s head coach, winning the Yorkshire League twice. He then coached individual players to junior national championships and British number one spots. His current players are Luke Johnson, ranked 67 in the world in doubles, and Patten who has now moved up to 17 having been number 600 when he first started working with Betton in April 2022.
“The first year I worked with him, he won ten titles on the Challenger Tour (the second tier of world tennis tournaments) with Julian Cash, which is the most anyone has won.
“He changed partners a couple of times after last season but him and Harri have been unbelievably successful since they teamed up earlier in the year. We reached out to Harri to play with Henry and he said no but, the next day, after one more game with his old partner, he rang back and changed his mind.
“They won nearly every tournament they played after that and I thought they would win the French Open this summer but Harri picked up an injury and they had to pull out. That was a killer and so disappointing but he came back for Wimbledon. They had a terrible draw but they beat some of the best players in the world and managed to win it. I believed they would win every game but it’s still unbelievable what they have managed to achieve.”
Calvin – who still lives in Barnsley but spends most of his time away on tour with his players or as captain of the Yorkshire team – believes he and Henry can achieve a lot more now.
He said: “This was kind of the pinnacle but now we want to win more. We’re going to the US Open later in the year. I already think Henry is the best player in the world. A lot of people think that as well. Until he’s world number one, it’s not official so that’s a good goal as well.”
