Fall From Grace: How Boris Becker blew $185m fortune

Boris Becker‘s once spectacular rise and subsequent fall is the subject of a new Apple TV+ documentary titled ‘Boom! Boom! The World Vs Boris Becker.’ According to The Sun, the German tennis star, who won his first Wimbledon title at just 17, eventually became a high-rolling playboy, spending an estimated $185 million on women and a jet-set lifestyle.

Becker admitted that his life had always been different and winning Wimbledon at such a young age only exacerbated that sense of difference. The documentary explores this sense of invincibility and the self-belief that contributed to Becker’s fame and fortune as well as his financial meltdown. Becker admits that he was too young to understand the value of money when he won his first Wimbledon championship in 1985, and everything was taken care of by his father, Romanian manager Ion Tiriac, and coach Gunther Bosch.

The documentary highlights how Becker’s tennis career, which was beset by addiction issues, including sleeping pills, and rumored sex addiction, was followed by two failed marriages and a love child. These events hit his tennis fortune as well as his happiness. Despite the chaos, Becker continued to spend at an exorbitant rate. In the early days, he felt he lacked support beyond his family and management. He admits that he was not fulfilled in his personal life and lacked the right friends and girlfriends.

Becker was hit with a reported million-dollar settlement following his divorce from Barbara Feltus in 2001, leading to his financial collapse. After leaving the game, he continued to spend at an exorbitant rate. He says that he assumed the money he earned during his career would continue to come in afterward and did not adapt his lifestyle quickly enough.

Becker accepted that he made mistakes and did not adapt quickly enough to live after tennis. The documentary features interviews with the star and charts his journey from Wimbledon champion to a bankrupt prison inmate. He was sentenced to 30 months for illicitly transferring large sums of money and hiding assets after being declared bankrupt. He was released from jail last December after serving eight months and was deported to Germany.

Also Read: Who is Boris Becker’s wife?

Boris Becker’s emotional introspection after jail term and near-death experience

After serving a considerable period of time in British prisons, Boris Becker appears to have undergone a significant transformation. Last year in April, he was found guilty of concealing assets amounting to £2.5 million to evade paying his creditors, following which he declared bankruptcy. Consequently, he was imprisoned for a total of 231 days before being deported from the UK in December.

During his 231 days in British prisons, Boris Becker went through some tough life experiences and learned some valuable lessons. He shares his insights on this challenging period in his life as part of the release of his revealing documentary “Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker.”

“It was very difficult. Jail is a very harsh punishment, and it’s meant to be, and anyone who says prison life is easy is a liar. Life is very hard there, it’s the survival of the fittest and every day, you have to find a way to survive. It taught me something that I may have already known but never had to apply in life, and everything I learned continued to help me when I regained my freedom,” Mr. Becker said in a recent interview.

Boris Becker admitted that his time in prison was incredibly challenging, but he ultimately came to terms with it and acknowledged that he learned important lessons. In an interview about his documentary, he expressed how going through this experience made him more humble. Becker believed that if being in prison and losing everything doesn’t make a person humble, then they have lost their way.

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