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Documentary: Boris Becker, glory and setbacks on Apple TV+

Today, Boris Becker is free. On December 15, 2022, the German tennis legend left Huntercombe prison in Oxfordshire (Great Britain). He had been in detention since April 29, sentenced to two and a half years in prison following his personal bankruptcy, in particular for “concealment of debt”. Such a career, six Grand Slam tournaments won, glory then scandal, ruin and finally prison, was bound to inspire documentary professionals. This has been the case since this Friday with the release on the Apple TV + platform of the film From tennis to prison: the story of Boris Becker. A documentary of more than three and a half hours, in two parts entitled « Triumph » et « Disaster ». Triumph, disaster… a good summary of the life of “Boom Boom”.

The director of the “Armstrong Lie” at the controls

Behind the camera, a regular on controversial subjects: the American Alex Gibney. Author of films on the Enron scandal or Scientology, he won the Oscar for best documentary in 2008 with A taxi to hell, on the murder of an Afghan taxi driver by American soldiers. Gibney also ventured into the sport in 2013 with The Armstrong Lie. He had questioned Lance Armstrong there a few hours after his doping confession to Oprah Winfrey.

This time, he questioned Boris Becker from 2019 to April 2022, until a few days before the verdict which will send him to prison, these interviews providing the basis for the documentary. But the German is not the only one to pass in front of his camera. The cast is even stunning: his ex-wife Barbara, his current partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, his historic manager Ion Tiriac, Björn Borg, Mats Wilander, John McEnroe, Brad Gilbert, Michael Stich, Novak Djokovic… And also Nick Bollettieri. The film is also dedicated to the famous American coach, who died on December 5, at the age of 91.

Extramarital relationship, debts and false diplomatic passport

Of course, an important part of the film, especially the second part, is devoted to the various escapades of Becker. His extramarital relationship on the evening of his retirement, in London in 1999, his abuse of sleeping pills, his unpaid taxes, his debts, his false diplomatic passport from the Central African Republic… nothing is spared the German who answers for more or less convincingly. Several times, Alex Gibney does not hesitate to point out his contradictions. But in the end, the most striking, and the most moving, are perhaps the archive images. Those that recall the extraordinary appearance of this 17-year-old teenager, surprise winner of Wimbledon in 1985. A real boom at the time.

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