Boris Becker: I was hounded like Princess Diana
Boris Becker has compared his struggles with press scrutiny to those of Diana, Princess of Wales, saying that 'I could put myself in her shoes'.
Becker was only 17 when he scored the first of his three Wimbledon titles in 1985, going on to become one of the most prominent voices in the sport in his role as a leading tennis pundit.
But that standing came crashing down when he was jailed in 2022 for hiding £2.5 million in assets that he could have used to pay off debts after being found bankrupt.
Four decades on, Becker was asked to identify moments in sport or history that he would never forget and opted for Germany's 1974 victory in the football World Cup, and the Princess's death in a car crash in 1997.
Asked about that second selection, in an interview with German magazine Stern, Becker replied: 'I knew that she was constantly on the run from the paparazzi and that nothing was taboo to these people... I could put myself in her shoes to some extent. Life as a public figure who is pursued at every turn: that is part of my story, too.'
As a tennis fan, the Princess regularly attended Wimbledon. One of Becker's near-contemporaries – the big-serving Slobodan Zivojinovic – has claimed to have had a relationship with her in the late 1980s.
Returning to the theme of his public profile, Becker said: 'Life in the fast lane is dangerous. Wunderkinds don't live to an especially old age because their lives move at such great speed.
'You can't come down from that high. I can't say: I don't want to be a wunderkind anymore, I don't want this whole circus. That freedom of choice doesn't exist for someone like me.'
Elsewhere in the same interview, Becker suggested that his fame had been double-edged from the beginning. 'The whole country embraced me,' he said. 'It was certainly well-intentioned, but they almost smothered me and took away my breath.
'I was always a freedom-loving person, and suddenly that freedom was gone. People suddenly looked at me with different eyes, even my parents. 'Boy, what were you doing?' That was their attitude. My parents had known me for 17½ years, but they didn't know I had this strength within me.'
Despite his six major titles and numerous other accolades, Becker was declared bankrupt in 2017 and later jailed in 2022. Released after serving eight months in Wandsworth and Huntercombe Prisons, he has since moved to Milan with his third wife, Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, and recently worked as part of TNT's punditry team for the French Open.
'I survived as a wunderkind,' he added. 'I survived 17-year-old Boris Becker and everything that came after. I have this character trait: I survive. You can drop me off in the jungles of Vietnam – I'll find a way to survive. You can put me in prison – and I'll find a way to survive.'
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
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Times
3 hours ago
- Times
Chelsea book place in quarter-finals — 4hrs and 38mins after kick-off
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Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Alex de Minaur reveals all on his wedding plans with Katie Boulter: Australian tennis star confirms whether nuptials will be held Down Under or in England - and his second love that his British fiancee puts up with
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