Boris Becker

I have lost 95 per cent of my friends.

I couldn't grasp it, but I knew it was a life-changing moment.

Boris Franz Becker (born November 22, 1967) (German: [ˈboːʁɪs ˈbɛkɐ]; born 22 November 1967) is a German former professional tennis player, tennis coach and a commentator. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Becker is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, winning 49 career singles and 15 doubles titles, including six singles majors: three Wimbledon Championships, two Australian Opens and one US Open.

Quotes

• It was a very different emotion. I didn't quite know what, I couldn't grasp it, but I knew it was a life-changing moment.
  • "Boris Becker's 1985 Wimbledon win: 17 Again". BBC Sport. June 16, 2015.
  • looks back on 1985 Wimbledon win

• For a couple of years, I wasn't doing anything. I had a difficult moment in my private life, I had a divorce, so I really had to settle down and start afresh. But obviously, after just doing nothing, apart from playing golf and taking too many holidays, you get bored quickly and I felt that at 35 years of age there was a lot more I could ask from life on a professional level and there were so many things I wanted to do. One things leads to another and the next thing is that you have got an office, maybe two, and you are busy with all different things.
• The last thing I want is to invest my money again in a risky business. I prefer real estate, with long-term slow growth but, in 10 or 15 years, I can smile about it.
  • "Brand Becker: Life after tennis for Wimbledon legend". BBC News. June 26, 2012.

• Prison is the longest I’ve been celibate since I was 15.
• I want to be around more for our [fifth] baby. I appreciate that God’s giving me another chance.
  • Quoted in "Boris Becker: ‘Prison is the longest I’ve been celibate since I was 15’", The Times (September 20, 2025).

• I have lost 95 per cent of my friends.
• When you are incarcerated, you literally lose everything. All that is left is your personality, your character. So you have to dig down inside to ask, ‘OK, who am I? Is this going to kill me, or is this going to make me stronger?’
  • "Boris Becker interview: I have lost 95 per cent of my friends". The Telegraph. June 27, 2026.

Quotes about Boris Becker

• Winning so young at Wimbledon - and in such style, with his booming serve and diving volleys - turned Becker into an instant celebrity. Fame can of course be a double-edged sword and living with that stature from the age of 17 has had a significant impact on his adult life.
  • BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller, "Boris Becker: How a tennis superstar crashed to earth". BBC News. April 29, 2022.

• Whenever I talked to him, I always got the impression that deep down, Boris always felt: 'Somehow, I'll be OK'. And finally, that attitude has caught up with him.
  • Biographer Chris Bowers, "Boris Becker: How a tennis superstar crashed to earth". BBC News. April 29, 2022.

• Boris Becker has literally nothing and there is also nothing to show for what was the most glittering of sporting careers and that is correctly termed as nothing short of a tragedy. These proceedings have destroyed his career entirely and ruined any further prospect of earning an income.
  • Jonathan Laidlaw QC, "Boris Becker jailed: Tennis champion sentenced over bankruptcy". BBC News. April 29, 2022.

External links

• Media related to Boris Becker on Wikimedia Commons