A great tennis player and a notorious troublemaker, that's how Boris Becker, who is celebrating his 53rd birthday today, could be briefly described. The member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame went bankrupt a few years ago, and he's not doing well in his personal life either. However, no one can take away from him the dozens of his famous tennis triumphs.
Beginnings under the watchful eye of his father
Boris Franz Becker was born on November 22, 1967 in Leimen, Germany to Karel-Heinz Becker and Elvíra Becker, who came from Kunín in Moravia. Boris has been playing tennis since he was a child. He took his first tennis steps at about seven at his father's tennis school in his hometown. At the age of eleven, he was already a proud member of the German junior team. He became a professional tennis player in 1984 under the guidance of Romanian coach Günther Bosch and immediately won his first professional title at the doubles tournament in Munich. Ever since his first professional matches, people have been astonished by his offensive technique, in which he frequently attacked the net. It was to be expected that great successes would not be long in coming...
Boom Boom
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Boris Becker na svém oblíbeném WimbledonuSource: Profimedia.cz
The miraculous tennis talent from Germany soon stunned the world. Due to his hard and accurate service, he became known as "Boom Boom". In 1985 he won his first grand slam - the grassy Wimbledon. At the age of 17 years and 227 days, he became the youngest winner of this famous tournament in history. He managed to defend the title at the All England Club a year later, when he defeated Ivan Lendl in the final. 1989 brought him a third Wimbledon victory. In the same year, he won the Grand Slam title from the US Open. In 1991, when he became the world number one, as well as in 1996, he added more triumphs to his collection by winning the Australian Open. The only one of the four grand slams he hasn't won during his career is the clay French Open.
Djokovic's coach
However, Boris Becker's rich collection doesn't end with winning grand slams. He has won a total of 49 titles in ATP tournaments. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, he won an Olympic gold medal for Germany in doubles. Several times, he triumphed with the German national team in the Davis Cup, and he also won the international mixed tournament Hopman Cup once. Moreover, Becker is a three-time winner of the prestigious Champions Tournament. He also enjoys great success in the role of a coach. For four years, he coached Serb Novak Djokovic and helped him win a career grand slam (Djokovic won all four grand slam tournaments under his leadership).
Troublemaker and womanizer
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Boris Becker s exmanželkou LillySource: Profimedia.cz
Boris Becker has always had a weakness for the fairer sex. His four femme fatales have one thing in common - they are have dark skin. His first wife, Barbara Becker (born Feltus), was wed to him from 1993 to 2001. She has two sons with Boris, Elias Balthasar and Noah Gabriel. Becker's only daughter, Anna, emerged from a short romance in a London restaurant in 1999. Fatherhood had to be confirmed by DNA tests, on which the girl's mother, Angela Ermak, insisted. The German tennis player only recognized Anna after receiving a positive result. Becker's second marriage fell apart after nine years in 2018. He and his wife Lilly, who received a wedding ring for 300,000 crowns from Becker, and their wedding was broadcast on national television, have a ten-year-old son, Amadeus, together. In the last two years, the German tennis legend has been having a great time with the British model Layla Powell, who is 20 years younger than him. They often appear at social and sports events together.
Financial troubles
The fifty-three-year-old tennis hothead became fabulously rich during his long career. More than 150 million euros (roughly 4 billion crowns) gradually accumulated on his account. It seems nearly impossible that such an amount of money could be spent during a single human lifetime. But Boris managed it just fine within a few short decades. And, unfortunately, he didn't stop there. Not even the auctions of his trophies, through which Becker raised only a small part of the money he owed, could save him. Last year, the court confirmed his debt to fourteen creditors in the total amount of over 1.5 billion crowns.
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Boris Becker v roce 2019Source: Profimedia.cz
One of the most expensive divorces in history
A lot of Boris's money went into his first, high-profile divorce. For a long time, it was described by the media as one of the most expensive divorces in history. Much of the hefty amount of money has been drowned in various business and investment projects that ended in a fiasco. The German legend has never worried about money. One-day trips on a private jet, expensive cars and jewelry, lavish parties, or luxury holidays are the alpha and omega of his life.
Despite bankruptcy, he lives in luxury
Becker is currently declared bankrupt until 2031. Inspite of that, he enjoyed a luxurious holiday on a yacht in August this year. He keeps avoiding repayment of his debts and conceals his assets.
"I can't change history, I don't want to change history. I can only change the future. I'm working on that,"
