Boris Becker

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Boris Becker
Image:Boris Becker book.jpg
Country: Germany
Residence: Schwyz, Switzerland
Height: 190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight: 85 kg (187 lb)
Plays: Right
Turned pro: 1984
Retired: 25 June 1999
Highest singles ranking: 1 (1/28/1991)
Singles titles: 49
Career Prize Money: US$21,966,402
Grand Slam Record
Titles: 6
Australian Open W ('91, '96)
French Open SF ('87, '89, '91)
Wimbledon W ('85, '86, '89)
US Open W ('89)

Boris Franz Becker (b. November 22 1967 in Leimen, Germany) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Germany. He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, an Olympic Gold Medalist, and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon. Since he retired from the professional tour, colorful aspects of his personal life have kept him in the headlines.

Contents

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Tennis career

Becker is the only son of an architect who built the center where he learned the game. As a youngster, he was often the weakest of the boys in the area's tennis program, and therefore often ended-up playing the strongest of the girls in the program – who was usually another future star, Steffi Graf – in training matches. Becker turned professional in 1984, and won his first professional doubles title that year in Munich.

The redheaded teenager took the sports world by storm in 1985. He won his first top-level singles title in June at Queen's Club and then, two weeks later, became the first unseeded player, the youngest-ever male, and the first German to win the Wimbledon singles title, defeating Kevin Curren in four sets. At the time he was the youngest-ever male Grand Slam singles champion at 17 years, 7 months (broken by Michael Chang who won the French Open when he was 17 years, 3 months). Two months after his triumph, Becker went on to also become the youngest winner of the Cincinnati Masters.

Becker's game was based on a huge serve that earned him the nicknames "Boom Boom" and "Baron von Slam". His penchant to throw himself at everything with diving volleys endeared him to the crowds. His heavy forehand and powerful return of serve were also very significant factors in his game.

In 1986, Becker successfully defended his Wimbledon title, defeating Ivan Lendl (world #1 at the time) in straight sets. Becker unexpectedly lost in the second round of Wimbledon in 1987. But he was back in the final again in 1988 where he lost in four sets to Stefan Edberg 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.

1989 was possibly the pinnacle of Becker's career. He defeated Edberg in straight sets in the Wimbledon final, and then beat Lendl in the US Open. He also helped West Germany retain the Davis Cup. However the World No. 1 rank still eluded him. In 1990, Becker met Edberg for the third consecutive year in the Wimbledon final, losing in an epic five-set match.

Becker reached the final of the Australian Open for the first time in his career in 1991, where he defeated Lendl to finally claim the World No. 1 ranking. He would be ranked No. 1 for several weeks during 1991, though he never managed to finish a year ranked as the World's No. 1 player. Becker reached his fourth consecutive Wimbledon final in 1991, where he unexpectedly lost in straight sets to his German compatriot Michael Stich.

Becker and Stich teamed up in 1992 to win the men's doubles Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona.

Becker reached the Wimbledon final for the seventh time in 1995, where he lost in four sets to Pete Sampras. His sixth and final Grand Slam title came in 1996, when he defeated Michael Chang in the final of the Australian Open.

Becker was most comfortable playing on fast-playing surfaces, particularly grass courts. He reached a few finals playing on clay courts, but never won a clay court tournament in his professional career. His best performances at the French Open came in reaching the semi-finals in 1987, 1989, and 1991.

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 championship in 1988, 1992, and 1995, and at the Grand Slam Cup in 1996. He won a record-equalling four singles titles at London's Queen's Club. In Davis Cup, his career win-loss record was 54-12, including a 38-3 in singles. He also won the other two major international team titles playing for Germany – the Hopman Cup (in 1995) and the World Team Cup (in 1989 and '98). In 2003, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

Becker now plays on the Senior ATP Tour and Billie Jean King's World Team Tennis tour. He remains a hugely popular figure at Wimbledon and commentates there for the BBC each year.

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Grand Slam finals

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Wins (6)

Year     Championship            Opponent in Final          Score in Final
1985     Wimbledon               Kevin Curren               6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4
1986     Wimbledon               Ivan Lendl                 6-4, 6-3, 7-5
1989     Wimbledon               Stefan Edberg              6-0, 7-6, 6-4
1989     US Open                 Ivan Lendl                 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6
1991     Australian Open         Ivan Lendl                 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
1996     Australian Open         Michael Chang              6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
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Runner-ups (4)

Year     Championship            Opponent in Final          Score in Final
1988     Wimbledon               Stefan Edberg              4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 
1990     Wimbledon               Stefan Edberg              6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4 
1991     Wimbledon               Michael Stich              6-4, 7-6, 6-4 
1995     Wimbledon               Pete Sampras               6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
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Singles titles (49)


* - Year-End Championship Official Names:
Before 1989 : Masters
1990 - 1999 : ATP World Championship
2000 - : Tennis Masters Cup

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Personal life

On December 17 1993, Becker married the actress and designer Barbara Feltus, the daughter of an African American serviceman and a white German woman; a month later, their son Noah was born. Their second child, Elias, was born in 2000. Before the marriage, they shocked Germans by posing nude for the cover of Stern (the picture was taken by her father). After the shock of their coupling faded, Boris and Barbara became the model for a New Germany. Becker gained the respect of his countrymen for his stance against racism and intolerance.

However, all that changed when he asked Barbara for a separation. Becker claimed he merely wanted some time out. But she flew to Miami, Florida, USA a week later with Noah and Elias and filed a petition in Miami-Dade County Court, sidestepping their prenuptial agreement, which had entitled her to a single $2.5 million payoff. The January 2001 pretrial hearing was broadcast live to Germany. Germans sided with "Babs" as her lawyer (paid for by Becker) made the former #1 out to be a cad. He was granted a divorce on January 15, 2001; she got a $14.4 million settlement, their condo on the exclusive Fisher Island, and custody of Noah and Elias.

His after-tennis life has been plagued by scandal. On February 8, 2001, DNA results forced him to admit paternity of a daughter, Anna (b. March 22, 2000), by Russian-African model Angela Ermakova. The child was conceived in a quickie in the cupboard of the London restaurant Nobu after a drunken Becker fought with Barbara, who then left; Ermakova was a waitress there. He at first denied paternity, and his lawyers suggested that Ermakova was part of a blackmail plot devised by the Russian Mafia. Becker later claimed that they never had intercourse, rather, she performed oral sex, retaining his sperm in her mouth, then using it to inseminate herself. Nonetheless, in July 2001, he agreed to pay $5 million.

He was convicted of tax evasion on October 24, 2002 when he admitted he lived in Germany from 1991-93 while claiming to reside in Monte Carlo. He was given two years' probation, fined $500,000, and ordered to pay all court costs.

In 2003 Becker published a tell-all autobiography, Augenblick, verweile doch... (English title: The Player). In it, he admitted to numerous liasons, before and during his marriage, and claimed he was high on drugs during a Wimbledon final against Stefan Edberg.

Since October 2005 Becker has been a team captain on the British TV sports quiz They Think It's All Over.

In early 2006, Beck told Hello! magazine that he has had a consistent run of unfortunate financial ventures for some time, and that he is now hoping to raise £350,000 by selling various prizes and tennis rackets in order to generate money for "those who are close to him".

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Trivia

  • For much of his career, Becker was the crown prince of the singles world rankings, spending a long periods ranked as World No. 2, mostly behind Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg. He was ranked No. 1 for a total of 12 weeks.
  • His nickname in the German press is "Bobbele".
  • Becker developed a long rivalry with compatriot Michael Stich.
  • Becker was notorious for his frequent emotional outbreaks on court. Whenever he played badly, he would loudly swear at himself, and sometimes even smashed his rackets on court. However, in contrast to John McEnroe, he rarely showed aggression towards his opponents. His raw displays of emotions made him a crowd favourite.
  • Becker never won a top-level singles title on clay. However Becker and Stich won the mens' doubles Olympic Gold Medal in 1992 on clay.
  • In the Davis Cup in 1986, Becker and John McEnroe played one of the longest matches in tennis history. Becker won the epic five-setter with 4-6, 15-13, 8-10, 6-3, 6-3 (at that time, there were no tie-breaks in the Davis Cup). The match lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes.
  • Becker's highly dramatic play spawned a plethora of new expressions, such as the Becker Blocker (his trademark early return shot), the Becker Hecht (his flying lunge), the Becker Faust ("Becker Fist"), and Becker Säge ("Becker Saw" – referring to the way in which he famously pumped his fists in a sawing motion).
  • Becker speaks with a distinctive lisp and is notorious for saying regularly ääh, ääh. He has been constantly mocked by comedians for this.
  • After winning his second Australian title in 1996, Becker delivered one of the funniest victory speeches in recent tennis history. When he listed his sponsors, he cut himself short saying that he did not have the whole day left. He then said that in prior years, when he was eliminated early, the organisation was so good that he really enjoyed watching the matches on TV. And he consoled losing finalist Michael Chang by saying that his (Becker's) days were numbered, while Chang was still a young guy.
  • The album title Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker by The Coral is a reference to him.
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External links

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