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They are shocking words that only increase the concern for our tennis legend. “Boris Becker as we knew him no longer exists,” writes biographer Christian Schommers in a guest article for the Swiss tabloid Blick. “Boris Becker was always a fighter. One who found a way out of every situation, no matter how tricky it seemed. He won’t be able to do that anymore.”
“The situation is extremely difficult for him”
This development was “a shock” for Becker, “and it will do something to him,” explained Schommers, who is considered an intimate connoisseur of the former tennis star and in 2013 together with the 54-year-old together with his biography “Life is not a game ” had written. Important to know: Schommers statements are subjective assessments.
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“In the last few weeks he has changed a lot and lost a lot,” wrote Schommers. “The situation is extremely hard on him, you can see it in his stooped posture, in his eyes. He’s badly hit.” Schommers added: “Of course it’s hard for everyone to have to go to prison, but for Becker it’s maybe even more than for most.” Because the racket icon sees himself as a citizen of the world, because he has always traveled a lot and was independent.
Schommer writes: “A person like him […] should sit in a cell 23 hours a day? A person like him, who always needed the light of the public a bit, should only be allowed one hour of leave a day and visitors only twice a month?”
Ex-prisoner talks about Boris Becker’s prison
This hammer hits Boris twice as hard
In view of his financial difficulties over the past 15 years, the former tennis star had been “a repression artist” who “looked to blame others,” said Schommers. The six-time Grand Slam winner hit “this hammer twice as hard”.
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Now there are “15 iron-hard months” in prison before Becker, who, according to Schommers, then has to “show remorse and humility” in order to restore his badly battered reputation. In Germany you like to see people rise and fall again – but then you want to see them rise again,” stated Schommers.
At first, Becker was “powerless, in a dramatic way, and he’s just realizing it. It’s the hardest task of his life.” The Becker biographer wrote: “I wish that he would get out of it in a reasonably healthy mental state. I’m not sure about that.” (tno)
