Boris Becker says life in prison is “definitely hard and difficult” as experiencing how it feels to be surrounded by various criminals was definitely one of the most unpleasant experiences of the German tennis legend’s life.
Last April, Becker was found guilty of hiding £2.5m worth of assets and loans to avoid paying debts. Becker, who was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, served eight months in a British prison before being deported back to Germany just before Christmas.
“Whoever says that prison life isn’t hard and isn’t difficult I think is lying. I was surrounded by murderers, by drug dealers, by rapists, by people smugglers, by dangerous criminals. You fight every day for survival. Quickly you have to surround yourself with the tough boys, as I would call it, because you need protection,” Becker said on BBC’s 5 Live Breakfast.
Becker: Nobody cared about my biography
During his career, Becker won three Wimbledon titles and British tennis fans loved to follow his matches at The Championships. But when Becker started serving jail time in UK prison, he soon realized that his Wimbledon titles would not help him inside.
“If you think you’re better than everybody else then you lose. Inside it doesn’t matter that I was a tennis player, the only currency we have inside is our character and our personality. That’s it, you have nothing else. You don’t have any friends at first, you’re literally on your own and that’s the hard part, you have to really dig inside yourself about your qualities and your strengths but also your weaknesses,” Becker said.
Becker, now 55, admits he has made mistakes over the course of his life. Also, Becker admitted that experiencing fame at 17 wasn’t something he was ready for. “I don’t think there was a handbook written for how to behave, what to do and how to live your life when you win Wimbledon at 17.
The fame and fortune after was very new. Obviously I never studied business, I never studied finance and after my tennis career I made a couple of decisions probably badly advised but again it was my decision,” Becker said.
