AS one of the world’s greatest tennis players, he netted £50million in prize money and sponsorship.
But three decades on from setting the world alight by becoming the youngest Wimbledon champion at 17, Boris Becker is today bankrupt and scrambling to repay debts of around £54million.
But it will hardly put a dent in his daunting financial problems, and he faces losing what remains of his property empire and possessions.
So where did it all go wrong?
His seemingly unquenchable thirst for the high life — including several homes, fast cars, a passion for expensive art and taste for dining in some of the world’s best restaurants — is partly to blame. His lack of business acumen and a scandalous private life have not helped either.
Christian Schommers, who co-wrote Boris’s 2013 biography Life Is Not A Game, said: “He still lives at the same standard he enjoyed as an active tennis professional when the millions were flowing.
“From expensive rents or holidays to Ibiza — even though he has a home on Mallorca — through to expensive meals, cigars, whisky . . . on top of that he is extremely generous.
“I’ve never been to a dinner where several people were present which he hasn’t paid for.”
After winning that first Wimbledon crown in 1985, the German ace — nicknamed “Boom Boom” due to his serve — went on to lift dozens more singles titles, including five Grand Slams, over a lucrative 15-year career.
It is testament to his extraordinary success on court that even now — 18 years after retiring from the sport aged 31 — he remains in the top ten prize money earners in the men’s game.
But with those glory days long gone, much of the memorabilia is now up for grabs.
Boris, 49, did not lose his hunger to succeed after quitting tennis. Having already dabbled in real estate and buying three Mercedes-Benz dealerships in his twenties, he chose to enter the business world full-time.
But he seems to have been hammered by bad luck, acrimonious working relationships and poor choices — such as well-sourced claims that he lost a fortune investing £10million in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
In 2001 he was accused of tax evasion after allegedly being resident in Munich while claiming Monaco as his main home. A year later he was found guilty, given two years’ probation and ordered to repay three million euros in back taxes and interest.
Since then, he has been linked to a dizzying number of projects, using his name to open a tennis academy in China, endorse Puma footwear in India, promote mobile phones in Slovenia, sell wine in Chile, and plug tennis rackets and sportswear in Europe.
In 2011, the Boris Becker Business Tower venture in Dubai failed and left him without a promised income boost.
He has also modelled for Ralph Lauren, fronted his own TV show and signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with PokerStars.com.
Plus, as a commentator for the BBC, he is said to earn £100,000 over the Wimbledon fortnight every summer, and sometimes gives after-dinner speeches for £25,000.
The number of ventures may seem excessive but Boris has an expensive personal life.
In what has been described as “the most expensive quickie in history”, he had sex with a waitress while at Japanese restaurant Nobu, in London, just hours after losing in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 1999 — the last time he ever played in the tournament.
As a result of the encounter, Angela Ermakova gave birth to his daughter, Anna, now 17. Boris was ordered to pay a one-off sum of £2million in maintenance. His first wife, Barbara, with whom he has two children, divorced him soon afterwards. She was awarded £10million and the keys to their £2million house in Florida.
In spite of this massive financial setback, Boris’s taste for good living has remained. He would routinely boast in interviews of drinking fine wines such as Chateau Margaux as he flitted between his properties in Zurich and Majorca.
As his pal and fellow Wimbledon champ Pat Cash said recently: “Boris has always felt a need to maintain an image linked with prosperity.”
He risked losing his £65,000 Maserati Ghibli S just days after his money problems came to light in June, but found the cash to pay the release fee after the car was impounded for being parked illegally.
That said, he has moved out of the £7million house in Wimbledon, South West London, he was said to be renting for £30,000 a month and now stays with a friend, the multi-millionaire financier Johan Eliasch, when in the capital.
Boris is often seen around London’s most expensive districts while the worse for wear. In his autobiography he admitted he was hooked on alcohol, sleeping tablets and painkillers at the top of his career.
He even revealed he downed whisky, beer and prescription drugs before the 1990 Wimbledon final, which he lost by three sets to two to his great rival, Stefan Edberg.
In 2013, he found a new focus — and income stream — coaching Serbian player Novak Djokovic. The job paid handsomely and Novak won six of his 12 Grand Slams to date under Boris’s guidance. But the pair parted ways last year, with some believing they fell out.
His barrister had to explain to the court that Boris was “not a sophisticated individual when it comes to business” and asked that his client be given 28 days to settle the debt by remortgaging his mansion in Majorca.
Set in 65 acres, it was once described as a “pleasure palace” and is believed to be worth upwards of £5million. But the registrar overseeing the case vetoed this idea, saying: “One has the impression of a man rather burying his head in the sand.”
The hammer blow came the following month from Hans-Dieter Cleven, 73, Boris’s Swiss business partner and former friend.
He allegedly lent Boris around £32million — which he now wants back — and is pursuing the debt with grim determination.
Boris also allegedly owes a total of around £10million to companies in Switzerland and Spain. It has been reported that in 2014 he narrowly avoided jail in Spain due to his debts. A £2million emergency loan from British tycoon John Caudwell, who set up Phones 4U, got him out of the tight spot.
Boris has repaid that loan — but it is no surprise that the stress is beginning to show.
Although he does not turn 50 until next month, Boris, who had a double hip replacement in 2014, now appears much older. One onlooker described him as being “unrecognisable” while giving a tennis lesson in London this week.
His second marriage, to Dutch model Lilly Kerssenberg, 41, is thought to have been under strain for months. The pair married in 2009 and have son Amadeus, seven.
However, Boris is trying hard to stay afloat. In August he was appointed head of men’s tennis at the German Tennis Federation.
He is also linked to two companies in Britain — Becker Private Office LLP and BFB Consulting, a “management consultancy” — suggesting he is determined to stay in business despite his poor record.
His representatives last night refused to comment.
Boris has also built up an art collection and once said a piece by Andy Warhol, which he bought during his playing days, is his most treasured possession.
But with creditors circling and his accountants suggesting it is “probable” even more debts will surface, how long will it be before he is forced to give it up — assuming he hasn’t had to already?
Boom to bust: His faulty spending
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