Boris Franz Becker (; born 22 November 1967) is a German former professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. He was ranked as the
world No. 1 in men's singles by the
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour and the ATP Challenger Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to p ...
(ATP). Becker won 49 career singles and 15 doubles titles, including six singles
major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
s: three
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
, two
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
s and one
US Open. He also won 13
Masters titles, three
year-end championships, an
Olympic gold medal
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...
in men's doubles in 1992, and led
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
to two
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
titles in
1988 and
1989
1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
. Becker is the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles Wimbledon title, a feat he accomplished aged 17 in
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
.
Becker is often credited as the pioneer of power tennis with his fast serve and all-court game. He is among the top ten players with the best win percentages in the
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...
. In
1989
1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
, he was voted the Player of the Year by both the ATP and the
ITF. He holds a win percentage of 92.70% in Davis Cup singles rubbers, a win loss record of 38–3 and two championships for Germany. In his autobiography,
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...
described Becker as the world's most popular tennis star in the late 1980s. Becker was featured at number 18 in the list of ''
Tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
'' magazine's 40 greatest players of all time in 2006.
After his playing career ended, Becker became a tennis commentator and media personality, and his personal relationships were discussed in news outlets. He has engaged in numerous ventures, including coaching
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
for three years, playing
poker
Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...
professionally, and working for an online poker company. In October 2002, the Munich District Court gave Becker a suspended two-year prison sentence for tax evasion. He declared
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
in the UK in 2017. In April 2022, he was sentenced by UK courts to two and a half years in prison for hiding assets and loans that the court required him to disclose to creditors and the bankruptcy trustee. On 15 December 2022, he was released from prison early, having served eight months, and was deported to Germany by UK authorities.
Early life

Boris Becker was born in 1967 in
Leimen, a town in the German state of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...
, the son of Elvira and Karl-Heinz Becker. Named after the Russian poet and novelist
Boris Pasternak
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator.
Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, ''My Sister, Life'', was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an imp ...
,
young Becker was raised Catholic.
His father Karl-Heinz, an architect, founded a tennis centre in
Leimen, where Becker learned to play tennis. He received his secondary education at
Helmholtz-Gymnasium in
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
.
[.Tross, Christine and Geierhaas, Theo (17 August 2005)]
"Helmholtz-Gymnasium Heidelberg: Gymnasium mit Sportprofil"
. Regierungspräsidiums Karlsruhe. Retrieved 4 March 2019 . His
Sudeten German
German Bohemians ( ; ), later known as Sudeten Germans ( ; ), were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part of Czechoslovakia. Before 1945, over three million German Bohemians constitu ...
mother Elvira Becker, née Pisch was from the
Moravia
Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The medieval and early ...
n village of Kunewald (
Kunín).
Tennis career
In 1974, Becker joined TC Blau-Weiß Leimen tennis club and began training under Boris Breskvar. By 1977, he was a member of the junior team of the Baden Tennis Association. He went on to win the South German championship and the first German Youth Tennis Tournament.
In 1977, he was chosen for the
German Tennis Federation's top junior team by Richard Schönborn. According to Schönborn, the funding for Becker's training was put up by the German Tennis Federation at an expense of over 1.3 million DM. In 1981, he was included in the Federation's first men's team. In 1982, he won the doubles at the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships.
Becker turned professional in 1984, under the guidance of Romanian-born coach Günther Bosch and Romanian manager
Ion Ţiriac, and won his first professional doubles title that year in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. As a teenager, Becker won the Tennis World Young Masters at the NEC in Birmingham in 1985, before taking his first top-level singles title in June that year at
Queen's Club
The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in Barons Court, West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "HSBC Championships" for spo ...
. Two weeks later, on 7 July, he became the first
unseeded player and the first German to win the
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
singles title, defeating
Kevin Curren
Kevin Melvyn Curren (born 2 March 1958) is a South African former professional tennis player. He played in two Grand Slam singles finals and won four Grand Slam doubles titles, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 19 ...
in four sets. Becker was at that time ranked 20th in ATP ranking, and was unseeded, as at that time Wimbledon did not seed players beyond the top 16. He was the youngest ever male
Grand Slam singles champion at (a record later broken by
Michael Chang
Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked world No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1996. Chang is the youngest man in history to win a singl ...
in 1989, who won the French Open when he was ). Two months after his triumph, Becker became the youngest winner of the
Cincinnati Open. Becker has since said that "the plan from my parents for me was to finish school, go to university, get a proper degree and learn something respectful. The last thing on everyone's mind was me becoming a tennis professional."
In 1986, Becker successfully defended his Wimbledon title, defeating No. 1
Ivan Lendl
Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player and coach. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis ...
in straight sets in the final. In 1987 Becker, then ranked 2, lost in the second round of Wimbledon to
Peter Doohan
Peter Leslie Doohan (2 May 1961 – 21 July 2017) was an Australian tennis player who won three consecutive Australian Hard Court Championships singles titles (1984, 1985, 1986), which remains an Open era record for that tournament. He won a f ...
, ranked 70. In the
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
that year, Becker and
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
played
one of the longest matches in tennis history. Becker won 4–6, 15–13, 8–10, 6–2, 6–2 (at that time, there were no tiebreaks in the Davis Cup). The match lasted 6 hours and 22 minutes.
Becker contested the Wimbledon final in 1988, where he lost in four sets to
Stefan Edberg
Jan Stefan Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), one of two players in the ...
in a match that marked the start of one of Wimbledon's great rivalries. Becker also helped West Germany win its first Davis Cup in 1988. He won the year-end
Masters title in New York City, defeating five-time champion Lendl in the final. The same year he also won season ending
WCT Finals for the rival
World Championship Tennis
World Championship Tennis (WCT) was one of the principal organizing bodies of men's professional tennis headquartered at the WCT Lakeway World of Tennis facility, Austin, Texas, United States from 1968 to 1989. It administered the WCT Circuit a w ...
tour, defeating Edberg in four sets.
In 1989, Becker won two Grand Slam singles titles, the only year he won more than one. After losing to Edberg in the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
semifinals, he defeated Edberg in the Wimbledon final, and then beat Lendl in the
US Open final. He also helped West Germany retain the
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
, defeating
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...
in the semifinal round after dropping the first two sets, in an epic spread over two days.
''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'' ranked it as among the best matches ever played, alongside the
1972 WCT Finals final between
Rod Laver
Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former professional tennis player. Laver was ranked as the World number 1 ranked male tennis players, world number 1 professional player indisputably for five years from 1965 to 1969, ...
and
Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former World number one male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 professional tennis player. Rosewall won 147 singles titles, including 23 majors: a record 15 Major professional te ...
, and the
1980 Wimbledon final between
Björn Borg
Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 109 weeks. Borg won 66 singles titles during his caree ...
and
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
.
As a result, Becker was named
Player of The Year by the ATP Tour.
In 1990, Becker met Edberg for the third consecutive year in the Wimbledon final, but this time lost in a long five-set match. He failed to successfully defend his US Open title, losing to Agassi in the semifinals. Becker reached the final of the Australian Open for the first time in his career in 1991, where he defeated Lendl to claim the No. 1 ranking. Another loss to Agassi in the French Open semifinals kept him from winning the first two
Grand Slam tournaments of the year. He was ranked No. 1 for 12 weeks during 1991 and reached his fourth consecutive Wimbledon final. However, he lost in straight sets to fellow German and No. 7
Michael Stich
Michael Detlef Stich (; born 18 October 1968) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in 1993, and No. 9 in men's doubles, achieved in ...
. Becker and Stich developed a fierce rivalry, but teamed up in 1992 to win the men's doubles gold medal at the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
in Barcelona.
In 1992, Becker won seven tour titles including his second
ATP Tour World Championships defeating
Jim Courier
James Spencer Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 58 ...
in four sets.
By 1993, issues back home over his courtship of and marriage to
Barbara Feltus
Barbara Becker (nee Feltus, born November 1, 1966) is a German-American designer, former actress and model.
Early life
Barbara Becker was born to a Black American father, Harlan Feltus, and a German mother, Ursula. Her father originally went to ...
, whose mother was German and father was African-American, and tax problems with the German government, had caused Becker to slide into a mid-career decline.
By 1995 Becker had been in continual decline for half a decade due to losing interest in tennis and off-court reasons. That year he reached the Wimbledon final for the seventh time, defeating Agassi in the semifinals. In the final, however, Becker, further fatigued after gruelling baseline contests with
Cédric Pioline and then with Agassi, lost in four sets to
Pete Sampras
Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the A ...
. He won the year-end
ATP Tour World Championships for the third and last time in Frankfurt with a straight-set win over
Michael Chang
Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked world No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1996. Chang is the youngest man in history to win a singl ...
in the final. Becker's sixth and final Grand Slam title came in 1996 when he defeated Chang in the final of the Australian Open. After winning the
Queen's Club Championships
The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for men's and women’s tennis, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. The event is part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the Association of Tennis Professionals, ...
for the fourth time, Becker was widely expected to mount a serious challenge for the Wimbledon title in 1996, but his bid ended abruptly when he damaged his right wrist during a third-round match against
Neville Godwin and was forced to withdraw.

Becker defeated Sampras in October 1996 in a five-set final in
Stuttgart Masters. "Becker is the best indoor player I've ever played", said Sampras after the match.
Becker lost to Sampras in the final of the 1996 ATP Tour World Championships in
Hanover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
. Becker saved two match points in the fourth set and held serve 27 consecutive times until he was broken in the penultimate game. Later that year he won the Grand Slam Cup defeating Goran Ivanišević in the final. In 1997, Becker lost to Sampras in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. After that match, he vowed that he would never play at Wimbledon again. However, Becker played Wimbledon one more time in 1999, this time losing in the fourth round to
Patrick Rafter
Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and world No. 6 in doubles. Rafter won eleven ...
.
Becker was most comfortable playing on fast-playing surfaces, particularly grass courts and indoor carpet (on which he won 26 titles). He reached a few finals playing on clay courts, but never won a single's final there. Becker won an Olympic Gold Medal on clay court in doubles competition alongside compatriot
Michael Stich
Michael Detlef Stich (; born 18 October 1968) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in 1993, and No. 9 in men's doubles, achieved in ...
at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Becker was close to winning a single's clay-court tournament in his last final on the surface, when he led
Thomas Muster
Thomas Muster (born 2 October 1967) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Muster ...
by two sets to love in the
1995 Monte Carlo Open final, and double-faulted on set point in the fourth-set tiebreaker.
Over the course of his career, Becker won 49 singles titles and 15 doubles titles. Besides his six Grand Slam titles, he was also a singles winner in the year-end
Masters / ATP Tour World Championships in 1988, 1992, and 1995, the
WCT Finals in 1988 and at the
Grand Slam Cup
The Grand Slam Cup was a tennis tournament held annually at the Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany from 1990 through 1999. The event was organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which invited the best-performing players in the year's ...
in 1996. He won a record-equalling four singles titles at London's Queen's Club. In
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
, his career win–loss record was 54–12, including 38–3 in singles. He also won the other two major international team titles playing for Germany, the
Hopman Cup
The Hopman Cup is an international tennis tournament that plays mixed teams (one male and one female) on a country-by-country basis. It was first held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, played on indoor hardcourt, before b ...
(in 1995) and the
World Team Cup
The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...
(in 1989 and 1998). He is the first male player to appear in 7 Wimbledon finals in the Modern Era, tied with Sampras and Djokovic, and behind the record 12 Wimbledon finals appearances by Federer.
Becker won singles titles in 14 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. In 2003, he was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...
. He occasionally plays on the senior tour and in
World Team Tennis
World TeamTennis (WTT) was a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973.
The league's season normally took place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA would ...
. After his career, he also took part in exhibition matches as
Michael Stich
Michael Detlef Stich (; born 18 October 1968) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in 1993, and No. 9 in men's doubles, achieved in ...
and in 2005 they answered questions from the
journalist
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
and
radio presenter
A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...
Marc Engelhard about the state of tennis.
He has also worked as a commentator at Wimbledon for the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
.
Playing style

Becker's game was based on a fast and well-placed
serve, that earned him the nicknames "Boom Boom", "Der Bomber" and "Baron von Slam", and great volleying skills at the net. He could supplement his pure serve-and-volley game with brilliant athleticism at the net, which included the diving volley that was considered a trademark of the young German, and which endeared him to his fans. The signature dives and rolls were never seen before Becker came to the scene, and the 'Becker dive' and 'Becker roll' became crowd pullers wherever Becker played. His heavy forehand and return of serve were also very significant factors in his game.
Becker occasionally deviated from his serve-and-volley style to try to out-hit, from the baseline, opponents who normally were at their best while remaining near the baseline. Even though Becker possessed powerful shots from both wings, this strategy was often criticized by commentators.
Becker had frequent emotional outbursts on court. Whenever he considered himself to be playing badly, he often swore at himself and occasionally smashed his rackets. In 1987, he was fined $2000 following a series of outbursts during the Australian Open in Melbourne, including breaking three rackets, "twice throwing the ball in an offensive manner at the umpire, hitting the umpire's chair on one occasion, spitting water in the direction of the umpire, and hitting three balls out of the court." Becker's highly dramatic play spawned new expressions such as the ''Becker Blocker'' (his trademark early return shot), the ''Becker Hecht'' (a flying lunge), the ''Becker Faust'' ("Becker Fist"), the ''Becker Shuffle'' (the dance he sometimes performed after making important points), and ''Becker Säge'' ("Becker Saw" – referring to the way in which he pumped his fists in a sawing motion).
Becker, one of the most effective players in his era on
grass court
A grass court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament.
While grass courts are more tra ...
s and
carpet court
A carpet court is a type of tennis court. The International Tennis Federation describes the surface as a "textile or polymeric material supplied in rolls or sheets of finished product". It is one of the fastest court types, second only to grass co ...
s, had less success on
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
. He never won a top-level singles title on clay, coming closest when holding two match points against
Thomas Muster
Thomas Muster (born 2 October 1967) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Muster ...
in the final of the 1995
Monte Carlo Open. Becker did, however, team up with
Michael Stich
Michael Detlef Stich (; born 18 October 1968) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in 1993, and No. 9 in men's doubles, achieved in ...
to win the 1992 men's doubles Olympic gold medal on clay.
Career statistics
Singles performance timeline
Records
* These records were attained in
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...
of tennis.
* Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
* ^ Denotes consecutive streak.
Place in history
''Tennis'' magazine ranked Becker the
11th best male player of the 1965–2005 period.
Professional awards
*
ITF World Champion: 1989.
*
ATP Player of the Year: 1989.
* ATP Most Improved Player: 1985.
Post-retirement

In 2012, Becker described his approach to retirement. "I had won so much by 22, a number of Wimbledon titles, US Open, Davis Cup, World number one. You look for the next big thing and that isn't in tennis."
Tax evasion conviction
Becker was found guilty by the Munich District Court of deliberately making false statements regarding his place of residence on his personal
income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
filings in order to save
DM3.3 million.
A criminal investigation into his tax affairs began in December 1996 while he was still an active professional tennis player. By the time German prosecutors filed charges of
tax evasion
Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...
against the tennis star in July 2002, Becker had already retired from the sport.
The retired tennis player, who had earned over
US$
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
25 million in prize money plus millions in endorsements, was originally charged with withholding taxes of DM10.4 million (
US$
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
5 million), however, the trial ended up being for the considerably lower sum of DM3.3 million (€1.6 million) for which prosecutors believed they had evidence.
Throughout late summer and early fall 2002, leading up to the publicized trial that was to focus on where Becker lived between 1991 and 1993 (his tax filings claimed Monaco while the prosecution had evidence of the player in fact spending the majority of that time in the Munich area), most observers predicted the star would make a deal with the Munich public prosecutor's office—admitting guilt in exchange for a lighter sentence.
As predicted, at his day in court on 23 October 2002, 34-year-old Becker admitted to living in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
between 1991 and 1993 despite being officially registered in
Monaco
Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
,
however, maintaining he could not be accused of withholding income or engaging in criminal machinations.
At the same time, as part of his defence, Becker emphasized that his property where he stayed in Munich was not a standard apartment but a "spartan flat with just a bed and no
refrigerator
A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermal insulation, thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to ...
" being part of his sister's property where he stayed when visiting her.
It also came out that he had been warned against purchasing the Munich apartment, but ignored the warnings. The player also told the court that the financial investigations that had begun in December 1996 played a role in his decision to retire from tennis due to "countless raids of
ishouse and office" and that he "hasn't won any tournaments since then and ended
iscareer".
Simultaneously with Becker's testimony, his lawyer presented the court with evidence that a week prior to his court date, Becker had paid around €3 million in back taxes, far exceeding the DM3.3 million (€1.6 million) amount he was in the dock for.
Despite the admission, as well as the payment, both seen as part of an attempt to settle the six-year process with a lighter sentence, the prosecution still asked the court for a sentence of three years and six months in jail.
One day later, on 24 October 2002, in a courtroom with public gallery packed with Becker's fans, the Munich District Court judge Huberta Knöringer gave Becker a two-year prison sentence, the execution of which was
suspended.
Additionally, his sentence included a fine of €300,000 and another €200,000 to various charitable institutions.
Investments
Since 2000, Becker has been the principal owner of the tennis division of
Völkl Inc., a tennis racket and clothing manufacturer.
Also in 2000, Becker partnered up with the German IT company Pixelpark AG for a joint
dot-com investment: Sportgate.de, a German-language website covering local, regional and national sporting scene in Germany. The venture shut down during summer 2001, less than a year into its operation, amid reports of Becker's business partner, Pixelpark's CEO Paulus Neef who owned a 35% stake in Sportgate, failing to come up with a promised £1m cash injection. Paulus countered with a lawsuit against Becker in the Munich regional court for feeling "conned".
Becker's autobiography, ''Augenblick, verweile doch...'' (
en: ''The Player'') was published in 2003. Its release made global headlines due to the tennis star's divulgence of details surrounding his publicized divorce from Barbara Feltus, including an account of his 1999 sexual encounter with the Russian waitress Angela Ermakova that triggered the eventual end of his marriage to Feltus. Other personal disclosures in the book include revelations of addiction to painkillers and sleeping pills early into his tennis playing career as well as admission about promiscuity and excessive alcoholic intake as a way of coping with loneliness while on the road.
The book made ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
''
bestseller list.
In May 2009, Becker announced the launch of online media platform ''Boris Becker TV''. The website, in English and German, features clips from his career and footage of his daily life.
In June 2015, prior to the
Wimbledon Championship
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
that was the 30th anniversary of
his first Wimbledon win, another Becker autobiography, ''Boris Becker's Wimbledon: My Life and Career at the All England Club'', was published with a
foreword
A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between th ...
by the
world's number 1 player and
reigning Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
whom Becker coached at the time.
Tennis pundit and media personality
BBC
In 2002, Becker became a commentator for the BBC at Wimbledon—a job he continued doing for the following two decades (apart from the
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
,
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
, and
2016 seasons when he coached
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
). He moved to the United Kingdom from his native Germany in 2012, making London his primary residence.
During BBC's coverage of the
2022 Wimbledon, which the German was absent from due to his incarceration over financial transgressions, imprisoned Becker received on-air messages of support from former broadcasting colleagues
Andrew Castle,
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
, and
Sue Barker
Susan Barker (born 19 April 1956) is a British former television presenter and professional tennis player. During her playing career, Barker won 15 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 1976 French Open. She reached a career- ...
.
From October 2005 to June 2006, the German was a team captain on the
British TV sports
quiz show
A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating and narrating whe ...
''
They Think It's All Over'' on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
. He furthermore appeared on the second episode of series 16 of the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
's car show ''
Top Gear'' as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
Eurosport
From 2017, as Becker was getting back into tennis punditry on television following a 3-year stint coaching Djokovic, the German began appearing on
Eurosport
Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...
regularly as part of its English-language Grand Slam coverage, often alongside the network's other retired-tennis-players-turned-TV-personalities such as
Mats Wilander
Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
and
Barbara Schett
Barbara Schett Eagle (; born 10 March 1976) is an Austrian former professional tennis player, who reached her highest singles ranking of world No. 7 in September 1999. Between 1993 and 2004 she played in 48 matches for the Austria Fed Cup team, ...
or on his own German-language commentary show ''Matchball Becker'' alongside commentator .
In May 2022, shortly after Becker's sentencing to 30 months in jail and initial detention at
HM Prison Wandsworth, Eurosport reportedly explored the possibility of setting up a home studio in his prison thus potentially allowing him to participate on the network's
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
coverage. Nothing came of it, however, and Eurosport eventually replaced Becker with
Mischa Zverev
Mikhail "Mischa" Alexandrovich Zverev. (born 22 August 1987) is a German retired professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 25 on 24 July 2017.
At the 2017 Australian Open, Zverev defeated world No. 1 An ...
while simultaneously renaming the ''Matchball Becker'' programme to ''Matchball''.
Weeks after Becker's mid December 2022 release from UK jail and deportation to Germany, Eurosport announced his re-hiring ahead of their
2023 Australian Open
The 2023 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 16–29 January 2023. It was the 111th edition of the Australian Open, the 55th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament ...
coverage.
Administrative work
After retiring from playing tennis, Becker has been on the economic advisory board of
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...
for ten years.
On 23 August 2017, Becker was named the head of men's tennis of the
German Tennis Federation (DTB).
Becker is a patron of the
Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Poker
Becker is a noted
poker
Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...
player and has appeared in the
European Poker Tour
The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker Poker tournament, tournaments created by John Duthie (poker player), John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas ...
and the
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the ...
;
by 2013, he had won more than €90,000 in career earnings from poker.
From November 2007 to mid-May 2013, Becker was a member of the celebrity team for the online poker platform
PokerStars
PokerStars is an online poker cardroom. It is the largest real money online poker site in the world, controlling over two-thirds of the total online poker market, and can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for Windows, macOS, Androi ...
, where he participated in professional poker tournaments. Becker made his first appearance as a poker amateur at a tournament in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...
in April 2008. In mid-April, he entered the Main Event of the World Poker Tour at the Bellagio and finished the tournament in 40th place, winning more than $40,000 in prize money.
In August 2011, he came 97th at the European Poker Tour in Barcelona, winning €8,000. In April 2013, he again took part in the EPT Main Event, this time in Berlin, coming 49th with a win of €15,000. As of August 2018, Becker has made tournament earnings of over $100,000 and was ranked 132,133rd in the
Global Poker Index. He has become an ambassador for the
partypoker online poker platform, playing under the nickname Boris__Becker.
Coaching Novak Djokovic
In December 2013,
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
announced on his website that Boris Becker would become his head coach for the 2014 season. As a result, Becker gave up his commentating job with the BBC. In December 2016, Djokovic and Becker parted ways. Over the three seasons they had worked together, Becker contributed to Djokovic's six Grand Slam titles and 14 Masters 1000 titles. Djokovic also won the
French Open in 2016 – the only Grand Slam singles title which Becker never won himself.
Bankruptcy
On 21 June 2017, Becker was declared
bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...
by the
Bankruptcy and Companies Court in London. The order arose when a 2015 debt—centered around an unpaid loan on Becker's estate in Mallorca, Spain—owed to private bank
Arbuthnot Latham for nearly $14 million was not paid in full before an assigned deadline, and there was no realistic expectation that it would be paid. Becker denied to the ''
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The (''NZZ''; "New Newspaper of Zurich") is German language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zurich. The paper was founded in 1780. It has a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the German Swiss newspaper of record
...
'' that he was "broke" or that he owed former business adviser Hans-Dieter Cleven any money; Cleven filed suit in a Swiss court claiming he was owed $41 million.
In June 2018, Becker's lawyers claimed their client had
diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country. in the bankruptcy case owing to his appointment as the
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...
's (CAR) "Attaché for Sports/Humanitarian/Cultural Affairs in the European Union".
Charles-Armel Doubane, the CAR's
Foreign Minister
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...
, countered that Becker was "not an official diplomat for the Central African Republic", that the role of
attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché () is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified ac ...
for sports "does not exist", and that the CAR passport produced by Becker was one of a batch that had been stolen in 2014. In September 2019, the German businessman Stephan Welk who provided the passport was detained for possible fraud.
On 21 May 2019,
Smith & Williamson announced that it had instructed its agent Wyles Hardy to auction Becker's trophies and memorabilia on 11 July 2019. On 24 June 2019, it was reported that Becker was forced to auction off 82 collectables from his personal collection, including a ''
Goldene Kamera
The Goldene Kamera ("Golden Camera") is an annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe. The award show was usually held in early February in Hamburg, but also took place in Berlin on occasion. It has been paused ...
'' award and his trophy from the
1989 US Open, in order to pay creditors. On 11 July 2019, an online auction of Becker's memorabilia was held, raising £687,000, according to the company dealing with his bankruptcy.
On 5 November 2019, the bankruptcy restrictions were extended for an additional 12 years, until 16 October 2031, after Becker was judged to have been hiding assets and transactions worth over £4.5 million.
Imprisonment
Becker was charged with illegally failing to hand over assets and trophies with a value of £2.5 million to repay debt during his bankruptcy, and on 21 March 2022, his trial began at
Southwark Crown Court, London. On 8 April 2022, Becker was found guilty of four charges under the
Insolvency Act. On 29 April 2022, he was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment for the offences.
His incarceration commenced at
HM Prison Wandsworth in South London, before he was transferred to
HM Prison Huntercombe, a facility used to detain foreign criminals.
Becker was released from prison on 15 December 2022 having served 8 months. The same day he was understood to have been deported to Germany; he was eligible for automatic deportation having received a custodial sentence of more than 12 months.
There are conflicting reports about his future eligibility to enter the UK, with some saying that he would be able to return to the UK in October 2024 at the earliest, and others that he is barred from entering the country for ten years.
Documentary
Becker is the subject of a two-part 2023
Alex Gibney
Philip Alexander Gibney (; born October 23, 1953) is an American documentary film director and producer. In 2010, ''Esquire'' magazine said Gibney "is becoming the most important documentarian of our time."
Gibney's works as director include ''T ...
documentary ''
Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker'', the first part of which premiered at the 2023
Berlin Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
.
Personal life
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' reported in 2009 that in addition to properties in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
,
Monaco
Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
, and
Schwyz
Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland.
The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ''Bundesbriefmuseum''.
The of ...
, Becker had an apartment in
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, and possibly still maintained a residence in
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, to be near his children. As of 2017, Becker lived in Wimbledon, within walking distance of the championship grounds.
Relationships
After a relationship from 1988 to 1991 with Karen Schultz, and from 1991 to 1992 with Cassandra Hepburn, he began a relationship with
Barbara Feltus
Barbara Becker (nee Feltus, born November 1, 1966) is a German-American designer, former actress and model.
Early life
Barbara Becker was born to a Black American father, Harlan Feltus, and a German mother, Ursula. Her father originally went to ...
, whom he married on 17 December 1993, when she was eight months pregnant, at the registry office of his hometown of Leimen. Before the marriage, they shocked some in Germany by posing nude for the cover of ''
Stern
The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...
'' in a picture taken by her father.
In January 1994, their son was born. Their second child was born in September 1999.
After Becker asked Barbara for a separation in December 2000, she flew to
Miami, Florida
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, U.S.A., with Noah and Elias and filed a divorce petition in
Miami-Dade
Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous count ...
County Court, sidestepping their
prenuptial agreement
A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement (commonly referred to as a prenup), is a written contract entered into by a couple before marriage or a civil union that enables them to select and control many of the legal ...
which had entitled her to a single $2.5 million payoff. Barbara left for Florida after being contacted by a woman claiming to be pregnant with Becker's child. In his autobiography, Becker stated that he admitted to his wife that he had had a one-night stand with another woman while Barbara was pregnant with their second child. He wrote that Barbara struck him during an argument after he flew to Florida to meet her and discuss the break up of their marriage. The pretrial hearing in January 2001 was broadcast live to Germany. The couple had dinner together every night during the hearing. Becker was granted a divorce on 15 January 2001: Barbara received a $14.4 million settlement, their
condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...
on
Fisher Island, Florida
Fisher Island is a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, located on a barrier island of the same name. Since 2015, Fisher Island has had the highest per capita income of any place in the United States. It is locat ...
, and custody of their children.
In February 2001, Becker acknowledged paternity of a daughter, , with a Russian waitress at London's Nobu restaurant, Angela Ermakova, after media reported that he had a child as a result of a sexual encounter in 1999.
Becker initially denied paternity, claiming he only had oral sex with Ermakova. His lawyers made allegations that Ermakova had
stolen his sperm and used it to inseminate herself after the encounter. Subsequently, he reversed his stance and accepted fatherhood. Some time after that, a
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
test confirmed he was the father.
In November 2007, he obtained joint custody of Anna after expressing concerns over how Ermakova was raising her.
Becker was briefly engaged to in 2008. Her father, Axel Meyer-Wölden, was Becker's former adviser and manager. The couple broke up in November 2008.

In February 2009, Becker announced on the German TV show ''
Wetten, dass..?'', that he and Dutch model Sharlely "Lilly" Kerssenberg were to be married. The wedding took place on 12 June 2009 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
In August, they announced that they were expecting a child. Their son, Amadeus Benedict Edley Luis Becker, was born in London on 10 February 2010.
In May 2018, Kerssenberg and Becker announced that they had separated after nine years of marriage.
The announcement was followed by multiple divorce and family court hearings throughout the remainder of 2018 amid the separated spouses each accusing the other of "unreasonable behaviour" and both issuing divorce petitions. As of Becker's 2022 prison sentencing over financial transgressions, over four years since their separation, the
estranged couple were still not legally divorced. Following Becker's release from prison, in a February 2023 interview for the ''
Bild
''Bild'' (, ) or ''Bild-Zeitung'' (, ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...
'' newspaper, Becker's estranged wife Kerssenberg accused the retired tennis player of not paying
child support
Child support (or child maintenance) is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child (state or parent, caregiver, guardian) following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Child maintenance is ...
for their 13-year-old son.
In July 2019, reports appeared that Becker was dating British model Layla Powell. At the time of his 2022 conviction, he was in a relationship with Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro. Eventually the couple married on 14 September 2024.
See also
*
Becker–Edberg rivalry
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Boris
1967 births
20th-century German sportsmen
ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players
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