As the famous tournament kicks off, former Wimbledon sensation Boris Becker discusses a documentary about his life, being behind bars and who his ‘true friends’ are…
German tennis star Boris Becker, whose spectacular fall from grace saw him jailed last April, for bankruptcy offences, features in a new twopart documentary Boom! Boom! The World vs Boris Becker, streaming on Apple TV+. The 55-yearold, who was deported from the UK, said in March, ‘Thankfully not everything went wrong, but you do find your true friends, because most of your so-called friends leave you.’ He went on to admits, ‘I miss London, it’s my favourite city in the world.’ The new documentary about his life explores how Boris rose to become a tennis sensation at 17, his glittering career and his incarceration. Here, he tells us more…
Boris, how was it opening up in your documentary?
A lot has happened in the past five years. When we first started, we had neither the pandemic, nor a jail sentence! But all is good. Hopefully everybody gets to see a different side of me.
Does part of you feel you have been treated unfairly by the world?
I’m the last person to complain about my life. I’m 55 and proud of the things I’ve done. Did I make mistakes? Of course. In my case, my mistakes were just reported to the world. Look, it’s very difficult to win Wimbledon at 17. You got to be a little crazy. To have that mindset and live a normal lifestyle is almost impossible. I’m not afraid of a tiebreak, of a final. But in real life, that’s the problem, sometimes. It took me a while to start to control my life. It’s just, some of the things that went wrong years ago, I’ve paid a heavy price for them – but I’m better for them.
How much did tennis form you, as a man?
The reason I became a tennis player is difficult to explain. I was given an opportunity by my parents. Tennis is a very expensive sport. When I picked up the racket in the Seventies, as a boy, becoming a tennis professional was unheard of. When I did start in 1984 as a professional, most asked me, ‘Can you make a living with it? Well, it’s because of tennis we’re sitting here’.
How did prison affect you?
It feels great to be free again, and at peace with myself. At the end of the film – we had our last conversation two days before the sentence was pronounced – I really didn’t know what the rest of my life would look like. Just try and fathom that. I’d never experienced something like this in my life. So, I’m very pleased that after six months, I was able to leave prison. I’m over the moon to be back with my family and be able to rebuild my life.
