His time in prison was for Boris Becker a “painful” experience, during which he said he feared for his life. The former world N.1 of tennis especially admitted Tuesday to be “guilty” of the facts of financial fraud who took him behind bars.
“I learned a hard lesson. A very expensive lesson. Very painful, ”said the German star, three-time winner of Wimbledon, on the television channel Sat.1. It was his first interview since being released from custody last week after eight months in detention in the UK.
“In prison, you are nobody”
“Of course I was guilty,” admitted the six-time Grand Slam winner. During his trial, however, he pleaded naivety or error in judgment. The court had harshly criticized his lack of an act of contrition.
Bursting into tears several times, the former champion recounted, in detail, his daily prison life, made of “hunger” and “extreme danger”, and of “English and mathematics lessons” given to his fellow prisoners. “In prison, you are nobody. You are just a number. Mine was A2923EV,” he added. The former tennis player also confided that he had feared for his life several times, especially when a fellow prisoner threatened to kill him, before “other prisoners” intervened.
The 55-year-old ex-tennis champion was released on December 15 after serving a prison sentence for financial offences, primarily fraudulent bankruptcy. He immediately headed back to Germany. “Prison was a good thing for me. We have time to think a lot (…) All these years, I made many mistakes, had bad friends, I did not organize myself well enough, ”he assured.
Soon in Miami or Dubai?
Boris Becker, who had lived in the UK since 2012, was convicted in April of concealing or illicitly transferring hundreds of thousands of euros and pounds to avoid settling his debts after being declared bankrupt. He had been sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a London court but only served eight months. The former athlete, however, does not intend to stay in Germany: “Maybe Miami”, he mentioned, also claiming to be “a big fan of Dubai ».
This interview is only the first step in the media return of the former champion, who should be the hero of a documentary presented out of competition at the next Berlinale, the Berlin international film festival. The synopsis for this film, directed by Oscar-winning British filmmaker Alex Gibney, promises to tell the story of a “young talent who conquered Wimbledon and, after setting a country ablaze, fell with the same greatness”.