From the highest of highs of winning the Wimbledon at just 17 years old to now heading to jail, Boris Becker has seen it all.
The German tennis great has been handed a two-year and six months sentence behind bars by a London court for hiding hundreds of thousands of pounds of assets after he was declared bankrupt.
The 54-year-old was already convicted earlier this month of four charges under Britain’s Insolvency Act, including failing to disclose, concealing, and removing significant assets following a bankruptcy trial.
The six-time Grand Slam champion was found guilty of transferring money to his ex-wives after declaring bankruptcy in 2017.
Boris Becker will serve half his sentence behind bars and the remainder on license.
The trial heard details of Becker’s career and how the former world number one, who won the Wimbledon championship three times, lost his fortune following his retirement.
The jury heard how he claimed not to know the location of some of his trophies, how he took a high-interest loan from one of Britain’s richest businessmen and tried to avoid bankruptcy by claiming to have diplomatic protection from the Central African Republic.
Becker was acquitted at the trial of 20 other counts, including charges that he failed to hand over other assets, including two Wimbledon trophies and an Olympic gold medal.
Becker rose to fame after winning the first of his three Wimbledon titles in 1985 aged just 17.
He was the youngest and first unseeded player to claim the men’s singles title.
Becker, who was head of men’s tennis at the DTB from 2017 to 2020, had denied all the charges, saying he had cooperated with the bankruptcy proceedings – even offering up his wedding ring – and had relied on his advisers.
He reportedly earned $25 million in prize money and many times more in sponsorships during a career that ended in 1999 and sent him on a downwards spiral.
