‘If jail doesn’t humble you, I don’t know what will’

“Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker”. That is the title of the new documentary about the former German tennis player, Boris Becker, which will be released this coming Friday. In it, Becker will address aspects of his personal life that will not leave anyone indifferent. And it is that, apart from his tennis career, his privacy has been on everyone’s lips for events ranging from the theft of his sperm to his admission to jail. From there he left in December 2022 and now the world will know what his turbulent path has been up to this day. The former tennis player and former number 1 in the world attended the newspaper La Nación from Dubai, with whom he talked about his experience in prison, the price of fame and his state of health.

The German was very young when his sporting successes began. He was only 17 years old when he began to record his name in history by winning the Wimbledon tournament in 1985. “It was a real shock to everyone, including myself. In reality, nobody was prepared for that, but I think that my current moment is a reflection of that stage. So many things have happened to me since that day that it probably would have been too much for anyone. Looking back, it may have been healthier to win my first tournament at 19 or 20 years old.”he confessed.

Becker would never change the fact that he won Wimbledon so young, but: Would it have been better for my tennis career not to win it? Yes, because it would have been less traumatic, and maybe I would have won more, because from then on, every time I competed in a tournament, they always compared me to that 17-year-old tennis player and it’s impossible to live with that.” the German stated.

The consequences of fame

Becker’s fame has many negative things that he himself has recognized. And it is that his person is recognized throughout the world and the interest in him continues to be very great. “When you’ve been famous for as long as I have, all kinds of stories circulate, especially on the Internet, and it is practically impossible to clear up one by one the things that are not true”Becker clarified.

In his tennis career he achieved many milestones such as becoming number 1 in the world. Would you change anything about the management of that race? “I have to accept things as they were. Just as I accepted the good, I have to accept the bad. I am very lucky for the life I have and I would not change it for anything in the world, because it led me to be the man I am and it is for all that I had to live”, he explained.

His stay in jail as apprenticeship

One of the hardest episodes in his life was when he went to jail for misappropriation of assets. “Life there is very hard, it is the survival of the fittest and every day you have to find a way to survive. That taught me something that I may have already known but had never had to apply in life, and all that I learned continued to help me when I was freed”.

“If jail doesn’t humble you, I don’t know what can… When you lose everything and you’re put in a small cell for 231 days, if that doesn’t humble you then you’re lost.”

Now, once his freedom has been recovered, the former tennis player confessed that he will continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle that he already began in prison and promises that one day he will return to London and Wimbledon, his favorite tennis club. At the moment, it is not decided what his future will be in relation to tennis, what is clear is that he is back, either commenting on television, or as part of the German Davis Cup team.