New Delhi: There are two things that a champion player must have in him. First is talent and second is how to stay in the news.
Well now that French Open is over, all eyes are set on the Central
court at Wimbledon where the top tennis players from the world will
gather and play their best game to win the most prestigious Grand Slam
of the year.
Tennis star Boris Becker, a former World No. 1 professional tennis player knew just how to be in the news.
We will tell you some of the most interesting facts about this controversial player’s life.
Becker was born in
Leimen, West Germany, the only son of Elvira (née Pisch), who was raised
in Czechoslovakia. His parents were Catholic, and parts of his mother’s
family were Jewish.
His father Karl-Heinz, an architect, founded the tennis centre in Leimen, where Becker learned the game.
It didn't take long for the powerful 6'3", 180-pound Becker to make
his mark on the game. With his monster serve and willingness to throw
his body all over the court, the red-haired teenager rode a wave of
momentum to reach the 1985 Wimbledon finals, where he beat eighth-seeded
Kevin Curran in four sets.
At 17 years and 7 months, he was the youngest men's player in
history to win a Grand Slam title (later bested by Michael Chang), as
well as the first non-seeded player to win the prestigious tournament.
Becker won three Wimbledon, two Australian Open and one US Open
titles in his career. In 1992, Becker won the men's doubles gold medal
at the Olympic Games in Barcelona.
Becker could never win the French Open. He reached the finals thrice (1987, 1989, 1991) but lost all of them.
On 17 December 1993,
Becker married actress and designer Barbara Feltus. Before the marriage,
they shocked some in Germany by posing nude for the cover of Stern in a
picture taken by her father.
But Becker’s marriage didn’t last very long. After Becker asked
Barbara for a separation in December 2000, she flew to Miami, Florida
with Noah and Elias, and filed a divorce petition in Miami-Dade County
Court, sidestepping their prenuptial agreement, which had entitled her
to a single $2.5 million payoff.
The January 2001 pretrial hearing was broadcast live to Germany. Becker was granted a divorce on 15 January 2001.
She got a $14.4 million settlement, their condo on the exclusive Fisher Island, and custody of Noah and Elias.
In February 2001, Becker acknowledged paternity of a daughter, Anna (born 22 March 2000), with Russian model Angela Ermakova.
In October 2009, he confirmed media reports that the child was the result of an encounter in 1999 at a London restaurant.
He had been out drinking following losing a main draw singles match
at the Wimbledon Championships, in what had been a come-back to the
venue of his greatest success.
Becker initially denied paternity, but admitted he was the child's father after a DNA test.
Becker was engaged to
Alessandra Meyer-Wölden briefly in 2008. Her father, Axel Meyer-Wölden,
was Becker's advisor and manager in the 1990s. The couple broke up in
November 2008.
In February 2009 on the German ZDF TV show Wetten, dass..?, Becker
announced that he and Dutch model Sharlely "Lilly" Kerssenberg would be
getting married on 12 June 2009 in St Moritz, Switzerland.
In August 2009 they announced that they were expecting a child. In February 2010, Becker and his wife welcomed a son.
Overall he won 49 career singles titles, another 15 in doubles and walked away with over $25 million in earnings.
In 2013, Becker announced plans to form the International Premier Tennis League, a circuit involving mixed teams of top players.
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