«In prison I was just a number, a violent climate. I learned a lesson»- Corriere.it

“You’re nobody in prison, just a serial number. I was A2923EV. Nobody gives a damn about who you are.” In exchange for 500,000 euros, Boris Becker talks about his experience behind bars to the German broadcaster Sat1. “I learned a hard lesson, very painful, very expensive,” said the three-time Wimbledon champion, extradited (on a private plane) to Germany after serving the first eight months of a 2 1/2-year sentence in Britain for fraudulent bankruptcy.

Becker returned to Leimen
, the village where he was born, where his mother Elvira, 87, still lives. The former tennis player recounts: «I was just a number. My name wasn’t Boris, I was a number. And nobody gives a damn about who you are. I think I have rediscovered the human in me, the person I once was». The food, explained the former world number one, was bad and supplied in portions insufficient to quench his hunger. There were no other supplementary activities and the climate was one of general violence: «I learned a hard lesson, very costly and very painful. But the whole thing taught me something very important and useful. And some things happen for a good reason.

Becker recounted the moment he left Huntercombe Jail
, Oxfordshire: ‘From six o’clock that morning I sat on the edge of the bed and hoped the cell door would open. They came to pick me up at 7.30, they opened the door and asked me: “Are you ready?” I said: “Let’s go!”. I had already prepared everything in advance ». A docu-film will follow on the fallen champion.