CELEBRITY
Former and youngest Wimbledon champion, Boris Becker rebuilding life after prison spell
Becker has commentated at Wimbledon for the BBC
According to BBC report, tennis great Boris Becker , who in 1985 at age 17 won the men’s singles at Wimbledon to become the youngest champion ever, is now rebuilding his life after being released from prison where he served term for tax fraud.
Now 55, the German served eight months of his original two years and a half sentence for hiding £2.5m worth of assets and loans to avoid paying debts.
Released last December and subsequently deported from the UK, Becker remarked that he was building his life’s “third chapter”.
Hear him: “I’m usually good in the fifth set – I’ve won the first two sets, I’ve lost the next two and I’m planning to win that,” he told 5 Live Breakfast in a lengthy interview.
The six-time Grand Slam singles champion, who was catapulted to stardom in 1985 when he won Wimbledon aged just 17, was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act in April last year.
The case centred on Becker’s bankruptcy in June 2017 resulting from an unpaid loan of more than £3m on his luxury estate in Mallorca, Spain.
Speaking before the release of a new TV documentary about his life and career, Becker said: “I don’t think there was a handbook written for how to behave, what to do and how to live your life when you win Wimbledon at 17.
“The fame and fortune after was very new.
“Obviously I never studied business, I never studied finance and after my tennis career I made a couple of decisions probably badly advised but again it was my decision.”
After sentencing, Becker spent the first weeks of his detention at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London, before spending the majority of his sentence at Huntercombe Prison in Oxfordshire.
“Whoever says that prison life isn’t hard and isn’t difficult I think is lying,” the three-time Wimbledon champion said.
“I was surrounded by murderers, by drug dealers, by rapists, by people smugglers, by dangerous criminals.
“You fight every day for survival. Quickly you have to surround yourself with the tough boys, as I would call it, because you need protection.”
Becker said being a legendary tennis player counted for nothing while he was in prison.
“If you think you’re better than everybody else then you lose,” he said.
“Inside it doesn’t matter that I was a tennis player, the only currency we have inside is our character and our personality. That’s it, you have nothing else.
“You don’t have any friends at first, you’re literally on your own and that’s the hard part, you have to really dig inside yourself about your qualities and your strengths but also your weaknesses.”
‘I miss London’
Following his release, Becker was deported to Germany and will not be allowed to return to UK soil until October 2024.
“I miss London, I really miss Wimbledon and I won’t be going there this year,” he said
“I’m fortunate that I can stand on my feet, none of my partners have dropped me, they’ve welcomed me back home.
“When you’re down, and the last five, six years were very difficult for me, you truly find out who’s with you and who’s not with you.”
Speaking about how he has been received by people since his release, he said: “Nobody’s perfect including myself and I’ve accepted all of that.
“I’ve been out now for three and a half months and I’m very humbled again by the reception I’ve received from fans, from people on the street from people who have followed the story a little bit.”
The former BBC pundit says he has been in dialogue with the BBC about being part of its Wimbledon coverage in the future.
“I’ve told them I can’t come back next year,” Becker said.
“If I’m allowed to go back I will make a phone call and ask if they want me back on the team, I would certainly love to but it’s not my decision.”
‘I’m a stronger, better man’
Becker believes he has learned valuable lessons from his time in prison.
“I never thought at 17 I’d be incarcerated at 54,” he said.
“If anything it certainly humbled me, it certainly made me realise that whether you’re called Boris Becker or Paul Smith, if you break the law, you get convicted and you get incarcerated, that goes for everybody.
“I never expected the good and I certainly didn’t expect the bad but I’m a survivor, I’m a tough cookie, I’ve taken the penalties, I’ve taken the incarceration but I’ve also taken the glory and if anything this made me a stronger, better man.
“With my decisions in the future you can see whether I have learned from it or I didn’t.”
Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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For the third year in a row, and the fifth time overall, Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete.
But at age 40, the Portuguese soccer superstar is reaching new highs.
Over the past 12 months, counting both his playing salary at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and his off-field business endeavors, Ronaldo collected an estimated $275 million before taxes and agent fees—the third-best year by an active athlete ever measured by Forbes.
On that all-time list, Ronaldo is surpassed only by boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.
And when it comes to the 2025 leaderboard, Ronaldo has a $119 million advantage over No. 2, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
The League of Wealthy Sportsmen
The gap is especially impressive considering that Curry’s $156 million total is also a record for his sport, beating the NBA mark of $128.2 million set last year by LeBron James.
And there are plenty of other eye-popping paydays among this year’s 10 highest-paid athletes, starting with James, who notched a personal-best $133.8 million to land at No. 6. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (No. 4, $137million) and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (No. 7, $114 million) broke records for the NFL and MLB.
Combined, the 10 highest-paid athletes brought in $1.4 billion, up slightly from last year’s $1.38 billion and the largest total since Forbes began ranking athlete earnings in 1990.
This year is also only the second time, after 2024, that every member of the top 10 made at least $100 million.
In fact, heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk ($101 million) and golfer Jon Rahm ($100 million) reached the milestone, too, without managing to crack this list.
For the third year in a row, and the fifth time overall, Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete.
But at age 40, the Portuguese soccer superstar is reaching new highs.
Over the past 12 months, counting both his playing salary at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and his off-field business endeavors, Ronaldo collected an estimated $275 million before taxes and agent fees—the third-best year by an active athlete ever measured by Forbes.
On that all-time list, Ronaldo is surpassed only by boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.
And when it comes to the 2025 leaderboard, Ronaldo has a $119 million advantage over No. 2, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
The gap is especially impressive considering that Curry’s $156 million total is also a record for his sport, beating the NBA mark of $128.2 million set last year by LeBron James.
And there are plenty of other eye-popping paydays among this year’s 10 highest-paid athletes, starting with James, who notched a personal-best $133.8 million to land at No. 6. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (No. 4, $137million) and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (No. 7, $114 million) broke records for the NFL and MLB.
Combined, the 10 highest-paid athletes brought in $1.4 billion, up slightly from last year’s $1.38 billion and the largest total since Forbes began ranking athlete earnings in 1990.
This year is also only the second time, after 2024, that every member of the top 10 made at least $100 million.
In fact, heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk ($101 million) and golfer Jon Rahm ($100 million) reached the milestone, too, without managing to crack this list.
World’s Highest-Paid Athletes 2025
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