"If I hadn't won at 17, none of this would have happened": Boris Becker blames one of his Wimbledon triumph for spending months in prison

Former world number one Boris Becker has claimed that Wimbledon is partly to blame for his spending a lengthy spell in jail. The 57-year-old spent eight months in prison after being found guilty of hiding a whopping sum of £2.5 million in assets to avoid paying the debts.

Becker was initially handed 30 months in jail but was released after just eight months. He returned to Germany but was not allowed to come back to the United Kingdom until 2025. That was not the only setback that Becker faced after his conviction. He was recently snubbed by the BBC in the broadcast of Wimbledon, as well, even though he was free to work.

Becker, since then, has written a book about the experiences of his life, where he surprisingly blamed the 1985 Wimbledon triumph for his conviction of tax fraud. Becker’s 1985 Wimbledon triumph was the first of three in London. That year, he defeated America’s Kevin Curren in the final with a score of 6–3, 6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–3), 6–4. In his book, Becker stated that all of the financial issues that he faced later in his life were due to winning the Wimbledon title at such a young age.

“My 1985 Wimbledon victory is partly to blame for this,” wrote Becker in his book. “ When you're suddenly so famous at 17, it feels like you suddenly belong to someone else. The German press told me how I should live and what I should do. If I hadn't won Wimbledon at 17, none of this would have happened. Then I wouldn't have had this trust in older men to handle my business, nor the habit of letting others manage my finances."

In an article in the Daily Mail earlier this year, an excerpt from Becker’s book was shared, where he talked about how difficult it was to spend the first night in jail. Becker stated the most frightening thing on the first night in jail was the sound of ‘screams’ which made him feel helpless.

“On your first night in prison, it’s the screaming that cuts you deepest. Screaming like someone is hurt,” wrote Becker. “Like they need help. Like someone is dying. You don’t know where it’s coming from, it’s just out there in the gaps between the bright fluorescent lights of the halls and the darkness of the cells. Perhaps worse than the screaming itself, as it echoes round this cold cell, with its mould and dirty toilet bowl, is the not knowing why it’s happening. Are these men asleep with nightmares, or awake and raging? Sometimes you get ten minutes of quiet and you go back to your bunk and thin blanket and try to fit your body into the strange contours and confines of a mattress shaped by a hundred strangers. But it always begins again, triggering more shouts from other cells, an endless rally between opponents who can’t see each other but want to destroy each other just the same.”

After winning the 1985 Wimbledon title, Becker won the same competition a year later in 1986 when he defeated the Czech Republic’s Ivan Lendl in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. His last Wimbledon title came in 1989, where he defeated Sweden’s Stefan Edberg in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-0, 7-6, 6-4. Overall, Becker lifted six major titles in his career. He lifted the Australian Open on two occasions and the US Open once. His last major title came in Melbourne in 1996 when he defeated former world number two America's Michael Chang in the final with a score of 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.