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Boris Franz Becker (b. November 22 1967 in Leimen,
Germany) is a former World No. 1 professional
tennis player from Germany. He is a six-time Grand
Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam champion, an Olympic
Games|Olympic Gold Medalist, and the youngest-ever
winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon
Championships|Wimbledon. Since retiring from the
professional tour, colorful aspects of his
personal life have kept him in the headlines.

==Tennis career==

Becker is the only son of an
architecture|architect who built the tennis center
where Becker and another Germany|German tennis
great, Steffi Graf, played against each other as
children. 

Becker turned professional in 1984, and won his
first professional doubles title that year in
Munich. 

As a redheaded teenager in 1985, Becker took the
tennis world by storm. He won his first top-level
singles title in June that year at Queen's Club
Championships|Queen's Club and then, two weeks
later, become the first unseeded player and the
youngest ever male player to win the Wimbledon
Championships|Wimbledon singles title, defeating
Kevin Curren in the final in four sets. At the
time he was Wimbledon's first German champion, and
the youngest ever male Grand Slam singles champion
at 17 years, 7 months (a record broken four years
later by Michael Chang who won the French Open
when he was 17 years, 3 months). Becker's game was
based on an all-action style and a huge
serve_(tennis)|serve that earned him the nickname
"Boom Boom". His desire to throw himself at
anything and everything with acrobatic diving
volleys during his matches particularly endeared
him to the crowds. His heavy forehand and powerful
return of serve were also very significant factors
in his game.

In 1986, Becker successfully defended his
Wimbledon title, defeating Ivan Lendl (who was
ranked the World No. 1 at the time) in straight
sets in the final. Becker unexpectedly lost in the
second round of Wimbledon in 1987. But he was back
in the final again in 1988 where he lost in four
sets to Stefan Edberg in a match that marked the
start of one of Wimbledon's great rivalries.
Becker also helped West Germany win its first
Davis Cup in 1988.

1989 was possibly the pinnacle of Becker's career.
He defeated Edberg in straight sets in the
Wimbledon final, and then went on to beat Lendl in
the final of the U.S. Open (tennis)|US Open. He
also helped West Germany retain the Davis Cup.
However the World No. 1 ranking still eluded him. 

In 1990, Becker met Edberg for the third
consecutive year in the Wimbledon final, losing in
an epic five-set encounter.

Becker reached the final of the Australian Open
for the first time in his career in 1991, where he
defeated Lendl to finally claim the World No. 1
ranking. He would be ranked No. 1 for several
weeks during 1991, though he never managed to
finish a year ranked as the World's No. 1 player.
Becker reached his fourth consecutive Wimbledon
final in 1991, where he unexpectedly lost in
straight sets to his German compatriot Michael
Stich.

Becker and Stich teamed up in 1992 to win the
men's doubles Gold Medal at the 1992 Summer
Olympics|Olympic Games in Barcelona.

Becker reached the Wimbledon final for the seventh
time in 1995, where he lost in four sets to Pete
Sampras. His sixth and final Grand Slam title came
in 1996, when he defeated Michael Chang in the
final of the Australian Open.

Becker was most comfortable playing on
fast-playing surfaces, particularly grass courts.
He reached a few finals playing on clay courts,
but never won clay court tournament in his
professional career. His best performances at the
French Open came in reaching the semi-finals in
1987, 1989 and 1991.

Over the course of his career, Becker won 49
singles titles and 15 doubles titles. Besides his
six Grand Slam titles, he was also a singles
winner in the year-end Tennis Masters Cup|Masters
championship in 1988, 1992 and 1995, and at the
Grand Slam Cup in 1996. He won a record-equalling
four singles titles at London's  Queen's Club. In
the Davis Cup, his career win-loss record was
54-12, including an incredible 38-3 in singles
mactches. He also won the other two major
international team titles playing for Germany –
the Hopman Cup (in 1995) and the World Team Cup
(in 1989 and '98). Becker's career prize earnings
totalled $25,080,956. In 2003, he was inducted
into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in
Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

Becker now plays on the Senior ATP Tour. He
remains a hugely popular figure at Wimbledon and
commentates there for the BBC each year.

==Grand Slam finals==

===Wins (6)===

 Year     Championship            Opponent in
Final          Score in Final
 1985     Wimbledon               Kevin Curren    
          6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4
 1986     Wimbledon               Ivan Lendl      
          6-4, 6-3, 7-5
 1989     Wimbledon               Stefan Edberg   
          6-0, 7-6, 6-4
 1989     U.S. Open               Ivan Lendl      
          7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6
 1991     Australian Open         Ivan Lendl      
          1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
 1996     Australian Open         Michael Chang   
          6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2

===Runner-ups (4)===

 Year     Championship            Opponent in
Final          Score in Final
 1988     Wimbledon               Stefan Edberg   
          4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 
 1990     Wimbledon               Stefan Edberg   
          6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4 
 1991     Wimbledon               Michael Stich   
          6-4, 7-6, 6-4 
 1995     Wimbledon               Pete Sampras    
          6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2


==Personal life==

On December 17 1993, Becker married Barbara
Feltus, the daughter of an African American
serviceman and a white German woman. Before the
marriage, they shocked the country by posing nude
for the cover of Stern (magazine)|Stern (the
picture was taken by her father). After the shock
of their coupling faded, Boris and Barbara became
the model for a New Germany. Becker gained the
respect of his countrymen for his stance against
racism and intolerance.

However, all that changed when he asked Barbara
for a separation. Becker claims he merely wanted
some time out. But, she flew to Miami, Florida,
USA, with their sons, Noah and Elias, and filed a
petition in Miami-Dade County Court, sidestepping
their prenuptial agreement|prenup, which had
entitled her to a single $2.5 million payoff. The
January 2001 pretrial hearing was broadcast live
to Germany. Germans sided with "Babs" as her
lawyer made Becker out to be a cad. He was granted
a divorce on January 15, 2001; she got a $14.4
million settlement, their Florida condo, and
custody of Noah and Elias.

His after-tennis life has been plagued by scandal.
On February 8, 2001, DNA results forced him to
admit paternity of a daughter, Anna (b. March 22,
2000), by Russian-African model Angela Ermakova.
The child was conceived on the occasion of a
quickie in the cupboard of the London restaurant
Nobu after a drunken Becker fought with Barbara,
who then left; Ermakova was a waitress there. He
at first denied paternity, and his lawyers
suggested that Ermakova was part of a blackmail
plot devised by the Russian Mafia. In July 2001,
he agreed to pay her $5 million.

He was convicted of tax evasion on October 24,
2002 when he admitted he lived in Germany from
1991-93 while claiming to reside in the tax haven
of Monte Carlo. He was given two years' probation,
fined $500,000, and ordered to pay all court
costs.

In 2003 Becker published a tell-all autobiography,
"Augenblick, verweile doch..." (English title:
"The Player"). 


==External links==

*
http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/playerprofiles
/default2.asp?playernumber=B028 Official ATP
Profile 
* http://www.tennisfame.org/enshrinees/becker.html
International Tennis Hall of Fame Profile
*
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/wimbledon_h
istory/3742113.stm BBC Profile
* http://www.borisbecker.freeweb.supereva.it/
Unoffical Site by Alessandro Albiero


Tennis World Number Ones (men)