Boris Becker’s estranged wife has said it is time the tennis legend “took responsibility” for his actions after he was handed a prison sentence for breaking the terms of his bankruptcy.
He was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act earlier this month, including removal of property from his bankruptcy estate, two counts of failing to disclose estate, and concealing debt.
The German national, 54, who has lived in the UK since 2012, was legally obliged to declare significant assets in his bankruptcy.
His ex-wife Lilly Becker has now spoken of the distress it caused to tell their son, Amadeus, 12, that his father is in prison.
“Telling our son his daddy was in jail is the worst thing I’ve ever had to do… it’s always women who have to clean up his mess,” she told the Daily Mail. “One day Boris will have to answer his son’s questions, to look in his eyes, just as I have done. I hope he has the answers ready. I hope he has been praying, like I have.”
A trial heard how Becker transferred €427,000 (£356,000) to nine recipients, including the accounts of his ex-wife Barbara Becker and estranged wife Sharlely “Lilly” Becker, the mother of his fourth child.
Becker also paid €48,000 (£40,000) for an ankle operation at a private clinic and spent €6,000 (£5,000) at a luxury golf resort in China, the court heard.
And the tennis star was convicted of failing to declare a property in his hometown of Leimen, while also hiding a bank loan of almost £700,000 and 75,000 shares in tech firm Breaking Data Corp.
“I can’t wait for him to come out and fix what he has broken. How is he going to do that? Amadeus will be 13-and-a-half when he gets out. That’s such an important age when they change so much. He might not recognise his father,” his estranged wife said.
“I feel a little sorry for him in some ways. He had everything — all that money, women, fame. He had it all, and he f***ed it up.”
The six-time grand slam champion said he was “shocked” and “embarrassed” when he was declared bankrupt on 21 June 2017 over an unpaid loan of more than £3m on his estate in Mallorca, Spain.
His lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw said his client had “lost literally everything” and “has already paid an extremely heavy price both for the mismanagement of his financial affairs, which of course he has nobody to blame but himself, but also for his offending”.
He added: “There is also nothing to show for what was the most glittering of sporting careers, and that is correctly termed as nothing short of a tragedy.”
