Boris Becker got a surprise visit from his old tennis friend Pat Cash while in jail, it emerged yesterday.
The 55-year-old former world number one is back in Germany after being released last week after serving eight months.
But while inside he received the show of support from Cash, 57.
The visit at HMP Huntercombe in Oxfordshire came 34 years after Becker knocked Cash out of Wimbledon in the men’s singles quarter finals.
The pair both went on to commentate on later tournaments for the BBC.
Cash said: “We aren’t close friends but we are friendly. He needed support and his tennis buddies should be there.”
Three-times Wimbledon champion Becker took part in a month-long intensive course on stoicism in jail, and Cash said his former rival had also been helping fellow inmates with German language lessons.
The Australian former world no4 added: “The course made Boris realise he had to own up to what he had done and find a pathway to recovery.
“Boris is dedicated but tennis players are very stubborn. He’s made mistakes.The treatment of ex-players is very poor in tennis. The problem is everybody is kissing your a** and you don’t develop any self-esteem beyond the praise you get from winning.”
Becker was deported to his native Germany after serving eight months of the two-and-a-half-year term he was handed at Southwark crown court in April after being found guilty of hiding assets in a bankruptcy fraud case.
