"Did I make mistakes? Plenty": Becker opens up after tumultuous 2022 as he looks to rebuild life post prison

Boris Becker was a guest at a tech event in Germany and he reflected upon his recent years admitting to making a lot of mistakes but also learning from them.

The career of Boris Becker was tremendous and well documented as were his struggles in his personal life. One bad mistake after another left the German with no choice but to declare bankruptcy which caused him a great deal of problems with the consequence being spending time in prison. All of that is behind him now and he reflected upon that during a talk at the event in Germany:

“Life lessons. If you know mistakes beforehand, you wouldn’t do them. With hindsight you’re always smarter. Did I make mistakes? Plenty. Is there anyone here that has been perfect? Probably not. When you’re that famous or in the headlines, everything looks a little bigger, a little larger.”

He continued:

“When you’re a young player… I made my first million when I was 17 years old in 1985. That was a lot of money. Probably even now. But in 1985, it was huge. Then you surround yourself with the agents and the lawyers and then you’re running a business called ‘Boris Becker inc.’ But you’re 17 years old, you’re 20 years old, you’re 25 years old and that goes on."

And more:

"Then you finish your career and then ultimately you haven’t studied finance, business…you are a sportsman and then you have good faith with the people that are with you and of course they show you a contract and you can read but you have to trust your own judgement, your parents’ judgement and your lawyer’s judgement.”

On his mistakes specifically, Becker said:

“Mistakes are bound to happen, and I’ve paid dearly for mine. But I’m a tough cookie, I’m a survivor. I’ve done a lot of different things in my life, and I’ve got through it. Ultimately you have to take responsibility for it, and I have. You have to accept it. Once you understand this is part of your own journey, you come through with it and hopefully you come out as a better man. So in these last couple of years, I hope I’ve learned a lot more than in my tennis years. It’s OK to make a mistake once. You are very foolish if you do it again."