Boris Becker speaks about emotional turmoil he felt before being sentenced
Boris Becker has spoken openly about the emotional turmoil he felt before being convicted of bankruptcy offences.
The 55-year-old tennis star, who won Wimbledon aged 17 along with six Grand Slams, is expected to be released soon after spending nearly eight months in prison.
He was convicted in April of hiding £2.5million in assets and loans to avoid paying his debts.
A clip interviewing Becker while awaiting sentencing has been released by the filmmakers of an upcoming untitled documentary.
He tearfully said in April: “I’ve hit my (rock) bottom, I don’t know what to make of it.
“I (will) face (my judgement), I will not hide or run away. (I’ll) accept any sentence I’ll get.
“It’s Wednesday afternoon and (on) Friday I know the rest of my life.”
Becker, who has lived in London since 2012, is due to serve half of his 30-month sentence behind bars before reportedly being deported to Germany.
The Daily Mail quoted a UK government source in May as saying that Becker met the criteria for deportation and that his case was being examined in the usual way.
Becker would be automatically deported because he is a foreign national believed not to have British citizenship and was sentenced to more than 12 months in prison.
He could appeal the decision.
Director Alex Gibney and producer John Battsek, best known for the Oscar-winning documentaries Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room and Searching For Sugar Man, respectively, have been documenting the tennis star’s life for three years in a series of “deeply intimate interviews”.
According to Apple TV+, the two-part show explores the three-time Wimbledon champion and former world number one’s tennis career from the start, as well as his “turbulent” personal life.
Also interviewed are his immediate family and tennis rivals such as American John McEnroe, Swede Mats Wilander and fellow German Michael Stich.
Novak Djokovic, whom Becker coached from 2013 to 2016 when the former tennis world number one won six Grand Slams, also appears.
Joined by former tennis number one Bjorn Borg, who at 20 was the youngest male Wimbledon champion before Becker broke his record.
Declared bankrupt on 21 June 2017, Becker owes creditors nearly £50million on an unpaid loan of more than £3million at his estate in Mallorca, Spain.
The former BBC commentator transferred almost 427,000 euros from his business account to others, including Sharlely “Lilly” Becker and his other ex-wife Barbara Feltus.
Becker, who was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence of 1.7 million euros in Germany in 2002 for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion (approx. October 3, 2017.
