Boris Becker may have been handed the chance to reunite with loved ones earlier than expected after his stint in a UK prison - but it seems relations remain very strained with his ex-wife.
Last April, the tennis icon was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act, having been accused of hiding £2.5 million worth of assets and loans amis declaring himself bankrupt in 2017. He was duly sentenced to 30 months in jail, but served just eight of those before being released from HM Prison Huntercombe.
His deportation back to Germany was welcomed by 87-year-old mum Elvira, but not so it seems, by former spouse Sharlely 'Lilly' Kerssenberg. The pair met in 2009 and married that same year, with their son born in February 2010. However, they separated in 2018, shortly after the six-time Grand Slam winner filed for bankruptcy.
And now Dutch actress Kerssenberg, 46, has gone as far as to compare Becker to Satan himself: "Boris can be charming and loving when he wants to, but also extremely hurtful with words. A devil," she told German media outlet Bild .
"Prison didn't make Boris a better person. Boris lives in his world in which everything revolves around Boris Becker. It is not my fault he went to prison. He ruined his reputation all by himself. Boris doesn't care whether we're doing well or badly."
And Kerssenberg, who claimed on Piers Morgan: Uncensored last year that reports the pair were technically divorced were false, said Becker's dishonesty scuppered their relationship. "We used to have an honest love," she added. "When I started to emancipate myself in marriage, there were arguments. Also because of Boris's lies about his finances."
Becker had previously been carried to Barbara Feltus, with whom he had two children. After relentless denial, he later admitted to fathering another child with Russian waitress Angela Ermakova, with whom he had an encounter whilst Feltus was eight months pregnant for the second time.
But at the time of his 2022 conviction, he was in a relationship with Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro. However, the pair have not appeared in public together since the 55-year-old was released from prison.
In January, the former BBC pundit posted a social media message to fans insisting he was doing well after returning home: "I call this the most difficult year of my life," he admitted. "But it's done, it's dusted. I came out alive - I think I came out stronger. I think my mental health is better than ever.”
