Boris Becker has to go to prison, that’s been clear since Friday. Companions speak on t-online about a man who has lost almost everything. About someone who Germany never gave time and peace.
Alexander Zverev was there. Michael Stich was there. Tommy Haas is still there. In addition to the matches at the first German ATP tournament of the year, tennis fans can watch some current and former greats of their sport on the “am Aumeister” facility at the BMW Open in Munich these days at this stylish and cosy, narrow club facility in the Bavarian state capital.
But while the organizer, the German Tennis Association, and the fans are celebrating German tennis and themselves, by far the most famous personality in the sport is missing, unlike in many previous years in Munich – Boris Becker. Instead, the 54-year-old was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for delaying bankruptcy, of which he must serve at least half, early Friday evening in main room one of Southwark Crown Court in London.
A long underestimated scenario
After Judge Deborah Taylor’s sentencing, Becker falls forward and, according to court observers, has to support himself on the dock. At 4.46 p.m. he ties his shoes, grabs his bag and leaves the courtroom upright and stoic in the direction of the security wing. From there he will be taken to a prison that evening.
Becker is no longer allowed to say goodbye to his son Noah and his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro. The tennis star and his lawyer had long referred to naivety, ignorance, pressure and bad luck as a consultant and underestimated this worst of all scenarios for him and probably didn’t think it was possible.
Boris Becker (left) with his girlfriend Lilian. Both had entered the courthouse shortly before 1 p.m. on Friday. (Source: John Sibley/Reuters)
“Boris was and is very important for German tennis. That’s sad to hear. I wish him the best,” said Germany’s number one, Alexander Zverev, on t-online late Friday evening about the penalty imposed on Becker.
Since March, the most successful German tennis player of all time had had to answer for three weeks in his adopted home of London in the process of allegedly delaying insolvency. After the jury found him guilty on four of the 24 counts, it took another three weeks for the judge to hand down a prison sentence.
The jury had previously found that Becker concealed ownership of a property in his hometown of Leimen, illicitly transferred large sums of money to other accounts, and withheld shares in an artificial intelligence company and a loan debt.
Disguised sum in the millions
At the start of the trial, the indictment was based on the equivalent of a little more than five million euros, which Becker is said to have concealed, not reported or hidden. The four counts on which the jury found Becker guilty add up to a veiled sum in the millions. The elapsed time up to the procedure has cost the creditors a further equivalent of 2.7 million euros in administration costs, court fees and legal fees.
Overall, Becker’s debts to the creditors are said to amount to around 60 million euros anyway. “I considered the objections that were put forward for you, but you made personal use of the company account, you embezzled property, you hid it, so much money was lost,” said the judge, who also told Becker that he was out learned nothing from his 2002 conviction. At the time, the Munich Regional Court sentenced the tennis star to two years’ probation for tax evasion in the amount of 1.7 million euros.
Deals were made from which he benefited
In terms of sport, Becker had many doubts until his announced end of career after the round of 16 in Wimbledon in 1999 against Patrick Rafter. Up until then, he had won an outstanding 49 individual titles, including the six Grand Slam titles that were highly regarded in Germany and two Davis Cup triumphs, which at the end of the 1980s were as important as the successes of the national soccer team. Society adopted “their Boris” almost overnight in 1985 when, at the age of just 17, he won first the preparatory event in Queen’s and then the historic Wimbledon tournament in 1985 as an outsider.
Boris Becker: Here on a picture towards the end of his career in June 1999. (Source: Kieran Doherty/imago images)
Soon no one in Germany gave him the time and peace to allow people to catch up with the magnitude of their successes and deal with them. Instead, big deals were made with Becker, from which he certainly benefited. At the latest when he rose to number one in the world rankings in 1991, there were no longer any limits to the celebrations and income.
Becker earned around $25 million in prize money; until the end of his career he earned the same amount again with sponsorship money. Puma, Mercedes, AOL and many other companies longed for the advertising face Boris Becker during their active careers and in the transition period after their sporting careers.
Former coach Bresnik: “We’ve talked about his problems for years”
However, there has never been a natural and healthy growth into the role of a financially strong tennis star. Two decades of mismanagement by consultants and his own mistakes have left him unable to act. The insolvency proceedings have been going on for almost five years and were also discussed on the professional tour. “Of course, the tennis circus has been talking about his problems behind closed doors for years,” reveals Becker’s former coach Günter Bresnik t-online.
The 61-year-old Austrian formed Dominic Thiem and will be in charge of Gael Monfils in 2022. Bresnik traveled with Becker from the US Open in 1992 to the French Open in 1993 and feels for his former protégé. He says: “An economic offense always has to be punished somehow and I don’t want to set any particular standards for Boris. But what he has done for Germany is difficult to compare with tax and monetary debts.”
Not a bad word about Boris
A prison sentence for economic crimes is always inexplicable for him compared to how other crimes are sometimes sanctioned. “I don’t know Uli Hoeneß personally, but I couldn’t understand the type of punishment. Good handling of money and tax payments are necessary and give a lot back to society. But people like Hoeneß and Boris have also done a lot of good for them Company.” Bresnik explains that he broke up with Becker on good terms at the time and that he hasn’t said a bad word about Boris since then. “I won’t do that now either.”
In the tennis family, Becker was and is a valued conversationalist. In the private sphere, on the other hand, he made too many mistakes. The divorce from Barbara Becker after a momentous and publicly exploited infidelity cost him around 15 million euros at the beginning of the millennium, according to the “Bild” newspaper.
At the time, Hans-Dieter Cleven, the former manager of the retail giant Metro, was organizing Becker’s business from the Swiss tax haven of Zug in the “Boris Becker & Co.” holding. But even the shrewd businessman was unable to help Becker achieve lasting economic success. Today, Cleven is one of Becker’s biggest creditors: This was followed by negative business with an internet portal, failed investments in three Mercedes car dealerships and poorly rated TV formats. Becker was only taken seriously again when Novak Djokovic hired him as a coach in 2013. Under him, the Serb won the French Open for the first time.
Boris Becker: The 17-year-old in 1985 celebrating victory with the Wimbledon Cup. (Source: Kosecki/imago images)
Then followed the time at the DTB, because of which the association is united behind Becker. President Dietloff von Arnim said at a press conference at the BMW Open hours before the verdict was announced on Friday: “I would say we are standing there faithfully at the side of our tennis icon.”
In recent years, the association has always put itself before its athletes in the event of sporting failure (Angelique Kerber) or private misconduct (Alexander Zverev). They pay it back with committed engagements in the national team. Until 2020, Becker did a very good job as a kind of overarching sports director in German men’s tennis, even for normal observers – not only as a support for the professionals in the Davis Cup but also in the youth field.
Accordingly, there is nothing to add to the President’s statement, says Vice President Dirk Hordorff to t-online. He says: “The verdict is of course a shock for Boris Becker.”
“We stand behind Boris Becker, who has done extraordinary things for German tennis for decades as a player and later in his function as “Head of Men’s Tennis” in our association. We therefore hope that we will soon be able to welcome him back to our circle “, explains Hordorff.
Kohlmann thinks of Becker’s family
Becker’s successor, longtime Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann, thinks of Becker’s family: “I very much regret that Boris Becker has to go to prison and I very much hope that he, his children and his family will get through this difficult time well,” he said Kohlmann to t-online. Barbara Rittner, who is not only responsible for the German women in the DTB, but also regularly worked alongside Becker as an expert at the TV station Eurosport, explains: “I wish him a lot of strength and the support of his family and friends.”
Eurosport himself replied to a t-online request late on Friday evening: “Boris Becker is an extraordinary tennis expert who inspires millions of tennis fans worldwide with his analyzes and insights don’t comment further.”
The fact is: Due to his prison sentence, Becker cannot work for at least one year and three months. But he could also consider a revision. Lawyer Burkhard Benecken explains in the picture: “Of course Boris Becker can challenge this verdict, but it takes several months before the proceedings come up. But if he continues to be innocent, he has no chance. He only has regrets, with one Admission of guilt, a chance for parole. He has to say he made mistakes. Because that didn’t happen before.”
