Weekend Edition: Boris Becker - from Wimbledon glory to serving time - The Sports Agents

0:02Gabby Logan:This is a Global Player original podcast. Boris Becker won Wimbledon at 17. At 54, a bankrupt Becker went to prison. The former world number one joins us today on The Sports Agents.

0:21Gabby Logan:The former tennis star Boris Becker is behind bars this morning after being jailed for two and a half years for hiding hundreds of thousands of pounds in assets to avoid paying his debts.

0:33Mark Pougatch:From grand slams to the slammer, tennis champion Boris Becker is behind bars tonight. We've got some breaking news. Three-time women's champion Boris Becker, a sentence has been handed down.

0:45Boris Becker:I was scared shitless, okay? They put me in a really small cell. Those first 24 hours, 22 hours inside the cell, everybody's screaming at night because they're scared or they want to get some attention. So yes, I was really scared.

1:03Gabby Logan:He won six Grand Slam titles. So how did he end up blowing a£30 million fortune and going to jail? What was it like having to watch Novak Djokovic, who he coached to six major titles, play at Wimbledon on TV in prison? And has prison changed him?

1:20Mark Pougatch:Welcome to the Sports Agents.

1:30Mark Pougatch:The Sports Agents with Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman. Boris Becker, welcome to The Sports Agents.

1:39Boris Becker:It's good to see you. Thank you very much for having me. Yeah, I just found out we're in three different parts of the world.

1:45Gabby Logan:You're in Istanbul, you're in Manchester and I'm in Milan, right? That's how we roll on The Sports Agents, Boris. We're global.

1:53Mark Pougatch:One of the things that people can't quite believe is that somebody who is as successful as you, seemingly has everything, you know, in terms of the finances, material wealth, could get himself into a situation like that, that you went to jail. So can you tell us a little bit about how that came to be and the level of money that we're talking about?

2:15Boris Becker:Well, you can never judge a book by its cover, don't you? So you never really know what's happening on the inside. You don't know that person's business, his surroundings. And all this doesn't happen overnight, right? It wasn't just one bad day or one bad week. It was a process really after I retired from the game of tennis in 99. I was good. And I want to give you a couple of numbers so you get an idea, because obviously I never made 100 million. I've never made 50 million. I walked away with 30 million euros, which was a lot of money then, and it would be a lot of money now. But in the first year after my retirement, I got a divorce.

2:57Boris Becker:So my ex-wife walked away with 15. So you're already talking about a different number, still a lot of money. But I was pretty good then because I invested this amount into real estate. So I was good. And this amount I still had onto my insolvency. It's just because I have three grown-up children then. So child support and maintenance over 20 years, paying a large five-figure amount every month for 20 years, takes away your cash. So I didn't have the income anymore, but I had to fix outgoings. I was a proud man. I was trying to give my kids the best education, the best livelihood and so forth. yet I didn't have the same management group and maybe the same business that I had as a tennis player.

3:46Boris Becker:And I think it's something that happens to a lot of sportsmen is that after their retirement, they think they still have the same income, yet the outgoings are still around. So again, it was a process of 10, 15 years. So where I didn't have enough cash, but I was asset rich.

4:02Mark Pougatch:So when the judgment was made and you were handed a two and a half year jail sentence for hiding assets, effectively, is what you were convicted of.

4:11Boris Becker:Also, I have to explain it a bit in detail. So I wasn't hiding assets. I did a formal error. I did a technical error where I met. I mean, I hope none of you ever been in insolvency. It's a very complicated process. So when I met the trustee on September the 13th, 2017, I gave him everything I know. But obviously, you have to answer truthfully. I said, I don't know yet who owns my house in Germany. and my mother lives in there. Give me two or three weeks and then I find out. Also, that house had a mortgage, which was done way before my insolvency. And I also had some shares in a startup company and they were valued at the time for about 9 ,000 pounds.

4:52Boris Becker:So I told the trustee, give me two or three weeks. So on September the 28th, he had the full knowledge of my worth. So I wasn't hiding it. I was two and a half weeks late. That's what I did. That was my mistake. and for that, I got a 30-month sentence. That's correct. Don't ask me my opinion about it. I'm just giving you the facts because there's been so much BS.

5:16Mark Pougatch:But in the buildup to that case, were you expecting, because everything in your life had been so gilded, you were this young teenage star who had this amazing life and I imagine you thought this will all work its way out. Did you actually foresee that you would spend a long period of time in jail for all of this?

5:34Boris Becker:Never in my wildest dreams I thought I would end up forgiving the trustee my account three weeks late to end up being at Ancient Goldwalsworth. Now, in Germany, if you do the same mistake, it was a mistake, no doubt about it, but it wasn't intentionally. I wasn't hiding assets for years. I did a mistake. In Germany, the penalty is is a fine in italy you pay the amount okay in the uk it's a bit more strict but i thought because the the debt was secured with a real estate i had in spain just give me another three or six months i sell the real estate i pay back to what i'll never in my

6:15Gabby Logan:mildest dreams i thought i have to go to jail why wouldn't they give you more time look um how much

6:21Boris Becker:you have a week to discuss this or you have a night or we have enough no listen it's complicated and and my my my reference to wimbledon at 17 is maybe in a natural explanation i became a wunderkind i became a household name i became a big target meaning if they get boris becker they get anybody else okay boris becker must have the best lawyers and he must be you know it up as they say, you must have the best advisors. No, I didn't. I didn't. Right. So obviously by getting Boris Becker, they scare everybody else off the street of always declaring exactly how much they're worth, what they owe and so forth.

7:02Boris Becker:So my story is Wimbledon, if I would have won at 21, I wouldn't have been a wunderkind. I wouldn't have been a big deal. And then the story probably, I can't prove it, but probably wouldn't even be a criminal case because what I've owed was money, undoubtedly, and all of a sudden became a media circus. It was more about the headlines than about the actual facts.

7:26Mark Pougatch:And you mentioned Wandsworth as well, which is not, by all accounts, an easy jail. It's not the prison that one would tick as the preferred choice. I mean, there are some seriously dangerous people inside Wandsworth prison.

7:40Boris Becker:It's one of the most dangerous prisons in the UK, undoubtedly. And you have really bad people there, you know, they're murderers and, you know, pedophiles and drug dealers and me. So my crime was, as they say, a white collar crime. Fine. I accepted it. But then put me into a prison with other white collar criminals, so to speak. But that's not the system. So I can't change the system. I'm just giving you in the book what exactly happened to me.

8:08Gabby Logan:Okay. So you're convicted of as you say a white collar crime you're put into one of the most feared prisons in the country you arrive at this prison and what happens to you where are you put are you put in a cell with someone else do you know what that person has done talk us through your first 24 48 hours in prison

8:32Boris Becker:i was scared shitless okay because i was not my environment i didn't know you know how prison works. In particular, I didn't know how H &P once was. But thankfully for the director in prison, because he told me, listen, we're going to give you a single cell because we want to protect you from the other criminals. They may take advantage of your novice. You've never been here. You don't know the rules. In a prison world, it's a different world. And then I'm going to give you a couple of listeners on your hand. This is a bunch of criminals that are in good respect within the prison system. They're long timers, so they're already in five, six, seven years, and they would look after newbies like me who had no clue what was happening.

9:14Boris Becker:So you could ask your questions about why the screams at night, how do I get a job, who's dangerous, about the canteen, about the food, and prison rules. But still, they put me in a really small cell naturally, and because it was a Friday night and Monday was a bank holiday, I couldn't speak to anybody until Tuesday. So you spend those first 24 hours, 22 hours inside a cell. Everybody's screaming at night because they're scared or they harm themselves or they want to kill themselves or they want to get some attention, which I found out later. But you don't know that inside. So, yes, I was the most scary times of my life with those three nights until the door opened on Tuesday morning and I could speak to the listeners.

9:57Mark Pougatch:And you are not to know at this point that that was just for the weekend. And presumably you're thinking, is this how it's going to be for my whole time in this prison until you can actually speak to somebody and understand? So those people that the directors promised you would look after you and be some, you know, some source of comfort to you. How quickly did you forge relationships and friendships with those people?

10:22Boris Becker:Well, quite frankly, there's a couple of people responsible that I'm still alive today. One of them are the listeners. They immediately took me under their wings. to explain me, don't go into that section, don't speak to that one. They quickly got me a job on that first Wednesday, which is unusual, that you're in five, six days, you have a job. You need a job because you want to make your one or two pounds a day because you want to make your phone calls outside and you want to get some food. If you don't have a job, you start with 15 pounds a week and you usually split the math 50-50 for calls and for food.

10:55Boris Becker:But then on the Wednesday, I got a job as a math teacher and an English teacher. So they paid me another two pounds a day, five days a week. And so with 25 pounds, you could get along. But it's all because the listeners realized that I'm vulnerable. I don't know anything. And if I'm not protected, something's going to happen to me.

11:16Gabby Logan:And they protected you from the possibility of violence, did they?

11:22Boris Becker:HMP, once worth, is a very dangerous place. You're talking about serious criminals. You talk about 2 ,000 of them. And you have about, I don't know, 100, 150 wardens. So naturally, who's controlling who? So these listeners made sure that I'm not with the wrong crowd, that I'm not taking advantage of. And also, you form your own little gang, meaning the prisoners are tough boys. Maybe six or seven of them looked after me all the time. Maybe they were instructed by the director of prison, because otherwise, bullying is a daily thing. People come into your cell and take advantage of you. And so in order that it didn't happen for me, I needed that protection.

12:03Boris Becker:I mean, it's crazy. When you say take advantage of you, what do you mean? They take your stuff. They abuse you physically. You're just becoming their slaves in a way. You're going to listen to what they want from you. And I mean anything. That's happening right now in most prisons in the UK.

12:20Gabby Logan:Because of the listeners then, did you feel okay? or did you still feel vulnerable and to go back to your phrase earlier scared shitless did on a daily basis did you always feel like you had to look over your shoulder i had to look over me from

12:37Boris Becker:the first day until the last day in prison because you sometimes walk through the corridors you walk your job you know the listeners are not always with you but you have to form a little army in a prison is a lot about respect that that you get respect inside and being amongst these listeners, that gave me a lot of respect. It doesn't mean I was always protected. So naturally, you have to, even though you're not, you have to show a lot of self-confidence. You walk a little higher. You look people in the eye so you're not scared. Prisoners will be taken advantage of who look scared.

13:08Gabby Logan:Well, we're going to take a break. And then after that, Boris, I'd like to know if the other prisoners knew you were a famous tennis player. The Sports Agents.

13:19Mark Pougatch:the sports agents with gabby logan and mark chapman

13:25Gabby Logan:were you vulnerable because you were new or were you vulnerable because you were boris becker

13:32Boris Becker:i did they all know you were boris becker they had no clue that i was a famous tennis player or no my my name was my number i was 829 23 ev that was my name and some of them maybe called me but they had no clue they saw me on tv maybe you know the last couple weeks because my my child was very present but they didn't know that i was a tennis player or that i once upon a time i won a wimbledon tournament they didn't know that thankfully did they begin to know that they they knew they knew you know that i first came to once was the end of april by the time wimbledon came around and and you know on on on inside i had three channels you know with little television it was bbc was itv and channel four once women came around and i got to know that there was some tennis history and then they saw my my wife and my son in the in the box of novak jokovic they put one-on-one together but by then we're talking july right but by then i was organized i was with the the tough boys as i call them they were protecting me they i was looked after by the right people and then i was fine but really until july they didn't put together one-on-one were there positives from prison well you learn a lot about yourself you know you learn that ultimately it's all about your personality and character that's that's all you have left with regardless whether you're rich or you poor it taught me to think about what happened to me how could i end up in in hmp onceworth or hmp hunter come the people that i hung out with my mindset was different it was different as a tennis player and then in my after after career so so you have a lot of time you know time is the enemy but it became my friend because it really taught me you know the do's and the don'ts and and you know two and a half years later i'm outside and i'm i'm very much on on the right track but it gave me time to rearrange my life and in a way to cleanse me, to clean me of my old self.

15:31Boris Becker:So you're a better person now because of it? I think so. I think so. I don't think I was a bad person as a tennis player. I think after my career, I don't think I was a bad person either. But I was too comfortable. I was too lazy. I wanted the easy life. I wasn't that disciplined anymore. I wasn't that concentrated. I lost my focus, which can happen when you're young and you have a lot of money. so that is not happening anymore no also in in a in a in a moment of great despair most of your so-called friends they walk away they leave you you're you're left with a very small group starting my partner then and my wife now you know obviously my kids but you know the number of friends that stick with you and and asking asking whether they can help you is from i think 150 to five So that's the drop-off of friends you have.

16:24Mark Pougatch:Do you worry about players like Alcaraz winning titles at a young age, not as young as you, and that they would not have the support system around them, the right people around them to not end up 20 years down the line having a similar experience?