The 21st century

Henri Kontinen

Finland · born Helsinki, 1990 · Wimbledon mixed doubles champion 2016, the first Finn to win a Wimbledon title

Henri Kontinen
si.robi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

All players

2016

Wimbledon mixed title with Heather Watson, Finland's first Wimbledon title

1

Doubles world ranking from April 2017, the first Finn to reach it

2

Wimbledon mixed finals in a row, 2016 and 2017

2018

Queen's Club doubles title with John Peers

13-12

Fifth set of the first final-set tiebreak at Wimbledon, 2019

Playing career

Henri Kontinen was born in Helsinki in 1990 and moved to the Czech Republic at 15 to train. In 2008 he won the Roland Garros boys' doubles and reached the Wimbledon boys' singles final, losing to Grigor Dimitrov. Two knee operations and two wrist operations around the age of 21 ended his singles career at No. 220, and from 2013 he concentrated on doubles.

With the Australian John Peers he won the ATP Finals in 2016 and 2017 and the 2017 Australian Open, and on 3 April 2017 he became world No. 1 in doubles, the first Finnish player to reach No. 1. On grass he won the 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles with Heather Watson, lost the 2017 mixed final with her, and won Queen's Club with Peers in 2018. He also played Davis Cup for Finland, often with his brother Micke. In January 2022, ranked 55th with 24 tour titles, he stepped away from the tour for an indefinite break.

On grass

Wimbledon mixed 2016Unseeded with Heather Watson in their first event together, beat Oliver Marach and Jeļena Ostapenko 7-6, 6-3 in the semi-finals and Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Grönefeld 7-6, 6-4 in the final
Wimbledon mixed 2017Final with Watson, lost to Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis 6-4, 6-4
Queen's Club 2018With John Peers beat the holders Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 6-4, 6-3 in the final
Wimbledon 2019With Peers beat Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 13-12 on Court 12 on 9 July, the first final-set tiebreak ever played at the Championships, won 7-2
Wimbledon boys' singles 2008Beat Bernard Tomic in the semi-finals and lost the final to Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 6-3

Every grass title: 2

Show every title, tournament by tournament
Wimbledon
2016 Mixed doubles with Heather Watson
Queen's Club
2018 Men's doubles with John Peers

Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions

"It was a dream ride we had this week and we loved every minute of it."

Kontinen after winning the 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles with Heather Watson, reported by Sky Sports

Anecdotes

The person behind the player.

2011 to 2013

Four operations

Two knee and two wrist operations at around 21 put his career in doubt. "It was hard to take, and [they were] certainly the toughest moments of my career," he said. He rebuilt his fitness and turned to doubles, and four years later he was world No. 1.

Source: Tennis.com, 5 April 2017

Centre Court, 2016

Nothing to put up with

After he and Heather Watson won the 2016 mixed title in their first event together, she thanked him on court for putting up with her. "There was nothing to put up with," Kontinen replied.

Source: Sky Sports, 2016

Court 12, 9 July 2019

History at 12-12

In the first year of final-set tiebreaks at Wimbledon, Kontinen and Peers reached 12-12 in the fifth set against Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury and won the first such tiebreak ever played at the Championships 7-2.

Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)

January 2022

A step back

In January 2022 he announced an indefinite break, saying he was taking distance from the everyday life of a professional player to think about what he wanted from the future.

Source: Yle, 15 January 2022

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Elsewhere online

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Sources

Page updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.

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