Boris Becker says life in prison was ‘brutal’ as he ‘fought every day for survival’
Boris Becker has said his time behind bars was “very brutal” and he had to “fight every day for survival”.
The three-time Wimbledon champion was jailed for two and a half years last April for hiding £2.5 million of assets and loans to avoid paying debts, serving eight months. He said the experience had “humbled” him, but had made him a “stronger, better man”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast on Saturday he said: “Whoever says that prison life isn’t hard and isn’t difficult, I think is lying.
“It was a very brutal. A very, very different experience to what you see in the movies, what you’ve heard from stories.
“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.”
His comments come after a two-part documentary Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker debuted globally on April 7 on Apple TV+.
Discussing the show last month, Becker said he felt the tennis world had “embraced” him since his release in December, after which he was deported from the UK.
“It is really about acceptance,” he said. “Of course naturally you do look back. You look back at the judgment and you look back at the trial and you look back at the jurors and you look at some of the mistakes that I did, but it is over, it is done.
“So acceptance is very important. Also to learn to live inside the cell. It’s a very lonely place so you have to use all your strength and all your mental energy just to survive the day.
“And then if you have a little bit left, just to be hopeful for the future.
“And I think that’s what it taught me, is really trying to live in the now, because we don’t know what’s around the corner next week. If anything, I think that’s what was the most important lesson.”
The former world number one turned BBC commentator said tennis remains his “number one passion”.
He added: “I was lucky to be a decent tennis player, I became a decent coach, I like to think I’m a decent commentator as well, so really I have three different jobs in the last 35 years and I love it.
“I came back out in mid-December and I went straight back to work for Eurosport talking about the Australian Open, so that really put me back into my old life and I think the tennis world has embraced me.
“I think they have given me the chance to go back to what I love most and I think I’m pretty good at (it) so it is a nice circle that we are creating here.”
Becker was declared bankrupt on June 21 2017, owing creditors almost £50 million, over an unpaid loan of more than £3 million on his estate in Majorca.
Written and directed by Alex Gibney, the docuseries also features interviews with John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg.
It comes from Lorton Entertainment whose projects also include Asif Kapadia’s Bafta-nominated Diego Maradona and Matt Smith’s recent documentary about Wayne Rooney.
