“In prison I was afraid. Tennis players today are too polite»- Corriere.it

Extremely elegant, physically polished as it hasn’t been seen for a long time, Boris Becker reappeared at the Berlin Film Festival. Next to him, as a little less than a year ago in the Southwark court, his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro. How life changes. That time the precocious Wimbledon winner was sentenced for fraudulent bankruptcy to two and a half years in prison. He was behind bars for several months, detained A2923EV, before being extradited to his native Germany (aboard a friend’s private jet). And now he’s back in Berlin, smiling as he presents the documentary film Boom! Boom! The world vs. Boris Becker. When they talk to him about prison he also knows how to joke, he says that he was away on vacation. Already in January he resumed commenting on tennis for Eurosport. It doesn’t seem so strange to me to be back to normal life. They say that after a few years prison can get into your head, but I was there for eight months and six days, a short time, Becker recounts in the first interview in English, granted to Financial Times (after the one released in December to the German broadcaster Sat1for a fee of 500 thousand euros).

Last April the judge in sentencing him explained that Boris had shown no remorse for his actions. The words of the former tennis player today are different: I am aware that I had a second chance, he says appreciating that brands like Eurosport and Puma have stayed by his side these past months. If you look back too much and get discouraged, then accuse the judge or jury or God knows who else, you get nowhere. The hardest thing in tennis is to forget double faults and missed opportunities, most players fail to do that. Only the very good ones look forward to the next chance. what I’m doing, continues Boris. Do prisons rehabilitate people? No, he replies dryly.

Becker recounts his experience in prison: Wandsworth, put simply, a but-hole. a dangerous place. After the first week there, I knew this was survival. Had I looked back, I would have been lost. I needed all my energy to survive every single day. That’s why I stayed clear. It’s still: When they arrive with the cell keys you hear it, a noise you will never forget. I have a strong mind and a good imagination. In prison you live in your head, you think about what you could have done differently. He denies receiving any special treatment in prison, such as drinking tea with the guards. Indeed, he remarks that if my name had been Peter Smith and I hadn’t won Wimbledon at the age of 17, the prosecution probably wouldn’t have persecuted me with 29 counts (actually there are 24, most of which I was acquitted, ed).

In Wandsworth prison he taught mathematics and English, in Huntercombe prison, where he was later transferred, he spent all day in his cell: People are yelling, knocking on the door. I was surrounded by killers, drug dealers. At first you are afraid, because maybe this person next to you who killed with his own hands, then becomes your friend. Also in Huntercombe, after a while, she got a job teaching gymnastics and philosophy. Accustomed to luxury hotels and forced to take sleeping pills when he was still playing, in the cell Boris from that point of view had no problems: The mattress was the smallest I’ve had in my life, but I slept so well. Maybe I needed it. Faith helped him: Inside I became much more religious.

Talk about your life partner Lilian admits to having told her after the sentence that he would have understood if she had left him: I told her: you are much younger than me, you don’t have to wait. She replied: “We are a team, we will overcome this together”. His eyes blush when he talks about his children, Noah and Elias who visited him in prison (They were scared), Anna and Amadeus, who is 13 and lives with his mother Lilly in London, where Boris can no longer go: it lasts . We talk on FaceTime every other day. Has he learned his lesson? What should I be careful with my money? S. Should I have better advisers? S. Do as when I used to play, listen to my common sense, instead of having these dozens of consultants and lawyers.

There is room for a reminder of the tennis player Becker: Sometimes people forget that to become number one you have to do things out of the norm. To think of winning Wimbledon at 17 and 18 you must be crazy. He doesn’t envy the records of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer: Even if I could have won 22 Grand Slams, why would I want to? Sometimes I didn’t give my best because it wasn’t worth it. How would he challenge Nole, Rafa and Roger? I would have looked into the locker room and made a comment about their wives, Becker jokes but not too much. With my rivals we had to separate, otherwise we would punch each other. Today players are too respectful of each other. She would like to go back to Wimbledon commentary: I would like to, but it won’t happen this year. The door not closed. I’m still in the game. Just play better. I just have to play better.