He was one of the biggest sports stars in Germany, but one blunder followed the next when it came to his finances. Now Boris Becker is talking about his debts for the first time. However, he does not see the blame for this directly with himself.
Boris Becker was able to achieve great success on the tennis court. Off the field, the public was interested in his personal life. But what has been in the foreground in recent years was neither career nor love: it was the finances of the former top athlete. In England, bankruptcy proceedings are underway against him, and criminal proceedings are also pending. It’s about a lack of cooperation in the insolvency proceedings, which began in 2017 and were intended to pacify the tennis player’s creditors. Becker, who lives in London and has to answer before the British judiciary, faces up to seven years in prison.
Becker on possible verdict: “Then I have a problem”
“Do I have great respect for it? Yes. Am I tense? Yes. Am I sometimes nervous? Yes. But I’m not panicking,” said Becker in an interview with “Bild am Sonntag”. “We, my lawyers and I, are well prepared. I will personally try to refute the allegations for each of the 24 charges.” Nevertheless, he also admits: “If everything goes against me, I have a problem.”
Overall, it should go to debts in the amount of 40 million euros. However, Becker is not allowed to make any statements about the ongoing proceedings. But how did it happen that a successful tennis player who won prize money, who worked (and still is) as a commentator and had many advertising partners got into so much debt?
“I was a tennis player, I didn’t study business administration”
“I was a tennis player and didn’t study business administration or law,” explains the 54-year-old. “That’s why after my playing career I was dependent on so-called advisors or managers, who obviously didn’t always give me good advice. What alternatives did I have? A lot of mistakes were made and I still have to pay the bill to this day.”
He also spoke to his family about his situation. His two sons Elias Becker and Noah Becker, who come from the relationship with ex-wife Barbara Becker, asked questions. “I haven’t spoken to my daughter Anna about the insolvency proceedings yet. Amadeus is already working on the iPad, but is still too young for the subject,” says Becker.
But Becker has learned one thing: he now has a good overview of his finances, so he has been working “through and through for five years”. The criminal trial against him is scheduled to begin on March 21.
