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Boris Becker

Boris Becker Born in Leimen, Germany, in 1967, Boris Franz Becker took the world of tennis by storm at age seventeen and won his first top-level singles at Queen’s Club, only to become the youngest male ever to win at Wimbledon two weeks later. His nickname, “Boom Boom” reflects his all-action playing style and huge serve. His dramatic dives and volleys make his an exciting game to watch.

The following year (1986), Becker successfully defended his Wimbledon title, defeating Ivan Lendl. He unexpectedly lost at Wimbledon in 1987, but made a comeback in 1988. At the pinnacle of his career in 1989, he won Wimbledon again and helped West Germany to retain the Davis Cup. Becker defeated Lendl again in 1991, when they made it to the Australian Open for the first time and he was ranked, for several weeks, as the world’s number one tennis player. In his fourth consecutive year at Wimbledon he lost to Michael Stich, who then teamed up with him in 1992 to represent Germany at the Olympics in Barcelona.

Becker’s seventh and final appearance at Wimbledon happened in 1995, where he lost terribly to Pete Sampras, but he won his sixth and final Grand Slam title at the Australian open the following year. Becker now commentates at Wimbledon each year for the BBC and plays on the Senior ATP Tour.

However, Becker’s popularity has never been solely based on his tennis performance or knowledge of the game. He is notorious for making headlines in other ways too. For example, his marriage to Barbara Feltus in 1993 raised more than a few eyebrows when the couple appeared nude on the cover of one of Germany’s foremost celebrity magazines, Stern. Feltus has African-American roots and the couple gained respect in Germany for their stance against racism in Germany, when the initial shock of their “marriage announcement” wore off. Yet, their divorce was equally scandalous. Bewilderingly, Becker drew even more seedy press attention by publicizing the conception of a love-child with Russian-African model Angela Ermakova in the closet of a London restaurant.

After being convicted of tax evasion in 2002, Becker also published a “tell-all” autobiography in 2003, called Augenblick, verweile doch... or The Player. Apparently loving the spotlight, he has never shied away from television or film appearances and he reappeared frequently on TV Total, during the summer of 2005. To think, it all started by becoming the youngest ever and first ever German to win at Wimbledon!

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Detailed biography