(London) Accused of fraud linked to his bankruptcy, the former glory of German tennis Boris Becker appeared on Monday at the start of his trial in London, the latest setback to date of an eventful retirement from sport.
Posted at 10:20 a.m.
“Boom Boom” Becker, 54, arrived at Southwark Court in London, with his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, wearing a dark overcoat and a purple scarf.
Declared in personal bankruptcy in June 2017 in London, the six-time winner of Grand Slam tournaments is accused of not having respected his obligations to disclose information, in particular banking, which he disputes. He faces up to seven years in prison.
He is accused of having concealed several properties and approximately 1.8 million pounds sterling ($3 million). He is also accused of not having handed over some of his Wimbledon and Australian Open trophies in order to settle his debts.
In July 2019, 82 items, including other trophies and personal memorabilia, were sold at auction and brought in 765,000 euros, a sum intended to pay off part of his debts.
At the time of his bankruptcy in June 2017, his debts were estimated at up to 50 million pounds.
The trial, scheduled to last three weeks, began with the selection of jurors, to whom Judge Deborah Taylor asked to “ignore” the celebrity of the defendant.
Multiple setbacks
The former player has already had legal setbacks for unpaid debts with Spanish justice, concerning work in his villa in Mallorca, and with Swiss justice, for not having paid the pastor who married him in 2009.
In 2002, the German courts sentenced him to a two-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 500,000 euros for some 1.7 million euros in tax arrears.
Six-time Grand Slam titleholder, “Boom Boom” Becker, so nicknamed for his devastating service, won 49 titles and earned more than 20 million euros in earnings during his sports career.
Then aged just 17, Becker in 1985 became Wimbledon’s youngest singles winner and the first unranked player to lift the trophy.
His dynamic play and childlike enthusiasm, illustrated by his penchant for spectacular plunging volleys, made him the darling of Wimbledon audiences.
He successfully defended his Wimbledon title the following year, defeating then-world number one Ivan Lendl.
In 1989, Becker won Wimbledon for the third time and won his first US Open a few months later.
Diplomatic passport
His long quest to become world number one finally paid off in 1991, where he won the Australian Open for the first time, beating Lendl in the final to climb to the top of the table.
But Becker’s greatest moment also happens to be the start of his steep decline.
Prone to mood swings on the courts, Becker often lost matches within reach and was fined numerous times for breaking his racquet.
These tantrums are public manifestations of Becker’s unstable personality, which struggles to stay on top.
From 1993, he had trouble with the German tax authorities, and lost his last final at Wimbledon against Pete Sampras in 1995.
He won his last Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 1996 before retiring from sport three years later, 49 singles titles to his credit.
Still in the tennis world, he became a television commentator and coached Novak Djokovic from 2013 to 2016, helping the Serb win against the domination of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
His private life was often turbulent, with many separations.
Accused by British justice, he tried in 2018 a final gamble, claiming to have been appointed by the President of the Central African Republic “attached” to the European Union for the cultural, sporting and humanitarian affairs of this country.
His lawyer had argued that his role granted him diplomatic immunity preventing him from being sued for the payment of other debts, before renouncing this claim.