Harri Heliövaara, who is ranked 11th in the tennis doubles world rankings, will not participate in Wimbledon in July, because another child is born in the family.
Wimbledon, the most traditional and prestigious tournament in the tennis world, is played in London in the first two weeks of July. Another child is born in the Heliövaara family, whose due date is at the end of June.
Because of this, Heliövaara has decided not to play the entire grass season.
– Wimbledon will be missed this time. But hopefully we’ll have time to play it many more times, maybe there won’t be too many children after this, Heliövaara says with a big smile.
– The birth of one’s own child is such a rare event that it is harder to be there when it happens. I have put in the calendar with a red pen more than a few races, specifically the grass season.
Heliövaara admits, however, that skipping Wimbledon will sting.
– Yes, it was a difficult decision in terms of tennis. Sad for my partner Lloyd. We cannot improve the ranking of couples. He will have to play at Wimbledon with someone else.
Heliövaara will probably drop at least a few notches in the ranking.
Last year, Heliövaara and Glasspool advanced to the third round at Wimbledon, but then ranking points were not awarded in the tournament, because Wimbledon had banned the participation of Russian and Belarusian players.
This year, Wimbledon will allow Russian players into the tournament.