BORIS BECKER
Birthdate: November 22,
1967
Turned pro: 1984
Birthplace: Leimen, Germany
Residence:
Leimen, Germany
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Height: 6'3" (1.90m)
Weight:
187 (85kg)
Plays: Right-handed
Career prize money:
$21,966,402
Highest singles ranking: 1 (January 28, 1991)
Highest
doubles ranking: 6 (September 22, 1986)
Profile
July
7th,1985 it seems like such a long time ago. It was a blisteringly hot
Sunday afternoon and Boris Becker was about to launch himself into the
limelight by winning his first Wimbledon title. With the exuberance of
youth and the total lack of fear that comes with it ,overpowered Kevin
Curren and became the first unseeded champion ,the youngest champion and
the first German to win Wimbledon. Powered by his gigantic serve Boris
ruled the tennis courts of the world. Suddenly he became a superstar . He
had more money than your average seventeen year old, he had the media
begging for information , anything from what he ate to what he told his
mother everyday. Compared with the life of any other seventeen year old
this was not normal. And through it all boris appeared such a nice young
man,he was polite and and modest. He was young and successful and managed
by the smoking moustache Ion Tiriac . By the time he could vote he was
living in the millionaires retreat in Monte Carlo. In those days his every
he never had to about where he was going he minions to do that for him
.Boris didn't mind his contribution was to win tennis matches and lots of
them.
But then Boris started to realize a few things . Through his
early twenties he found certain things that had to be sorted out. As the
press started to search for quotable lines from the German hero , Boris's
confused thoughts on the state of the world and the meaning of life became
the stuff of newspaper stories . He was proud to lead Germany to victory
in the Davis Cup , but feared the patriotic nationalistic fervour it
encouraged . Suddenly Franz Beckenbauer and his boys were not the only
sporting gods in the news. Germany in the shape of Boris and Steffi Graf
was now a tennis nation and the punters expected success . As everyone
demanded a piece of him , Boris had become a troubled man . Fame had
become a straitjacket , and he didn't like it. But back on the tennis
court he was still in control as he headed towards the terrible twenties .
More or less his invincibility at Wimbledon was shattered by Peter Doohan
in the second round in 1987 .It was the first match Boris had lost at the
championships, his 1984 challenge ended by injury not defeat . But no
matter he spent it like a trooper , spent the next year racking up seven
titles and taking Germany to their first Davis cup victory. He won them
the davis cup in 1989 too , the year he recaptured the Wimbledon crown and
added the US open to the list as well. At last he proved he could he could
win a grand slam either than on grass . Things were looking up . By 1991
he was ranked no1 in the world , admittedly only for 12 weeks and that
split into two stints , and he had proved to himself and his critics that
he could be the best . But that year he lost to Michael Stich in the
final; at Wimbledon. It was Boris's sixth final and he looked a very
different man from the young lad who bounded to victory in 1985 . He was
as ever as sporting in defeat , but it was the beginning of boris's barren
patch . The thinking was beginning to catch up with the playing and with
Boris that meant trouble . He spit with Tiriac and changed coaches more
often than his socks, and he lost his edge. He was not a 100 percent sure
what he wanted , but he did not know what did not want . And one thing he
could not stomach anymore was interference in his private life.
His new
girlfriend Barbara Feltus was both beautiful and stylish . She was also
black . Hardly suprising racism became a new worry to add to the list of
world problems Boris was carrying . While he sorted out his relationship
with Barbara and tried to protect the pair of them from the bigotted , the
racist and the just plain stupid. Tennis took a back seat. By 1993 he
dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in eight years and lost his
no1 German ranking to Stich . Marriage and the arrival of his son Noah in
January 1994 signalled that he had dealt with his personal life and was
ready to think about something else . By teaming up with nick Bolletieri
he fond a mentor who was as single minded as he was . As bolletieri said
at the time , you dont try to change the winner of 5 grand slam titles you
just provide a little motivation. Right Boris were thinking about tennis
now . And it worked . He reached the semi's at Wimbledon and told the
world that last year he had been thinking about his family and , seeing
that it was fine now he was ready to concentrate on tennis. He won
marseilles' and the ATP Tour World Championships' in 1995. The next year
wasn certainly a year to remember for Boris' fans . He won his sixth Grand
Slam , the Australian Open in style by beating Chang in the final in
straight sets . He later added another Queens title to his collection.
However disaster struck at Wimbledon ,during a third round match Boris
where seriously injured his wrist , which would keep him away from tennis
for the next few months. Boris announced his comeback by winning the
Vienna indoor title in October and continued to thrill his fans by winning
the Stuttgart indoor title by beating Sampras in a majestic five set
final. Sampras would get his revenge by beating Boris in another thrilling
five set final at the World Championships in Hannover. 1997 was not a so
good year for Boris . He lost his Aussie Open title to Sampras and was
plagued by injury most of the year . After being beaten by Sampras in the
Wimbledon quarterfinals he announced that he would not be playing tennis
full time in 1998. And today he is just enjoying playing the
game.
For more information on Boris Becker visit
www.boris-becker.com
