Talk:Boris Becker

Cad

What on earth ist a cad??? 81.154.4.105

A "cad" (AKA "bounder" AKA "scoundrel" AKA "rogue") is a "man whose behavior is unprincipled or dishonorable".

See James Hewitt.

chocolateboy 18:05, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

When a lawyer offends somebody in a case, he has to be punished for that, pubicly retire his words, apologize and pay indemnation, when demanded.

The text about this item in this article will be made more encyclopedic.VKing 12:17, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Career prize money

How precisely is the Career Prize Money defined? The amount was changed in a recent edit, and the BBC sport entry referenced at the bottom of the article has yet another figure. Is there an official prize money count?--GrafZahl 16:17, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Nicknames

I remember him as "Bonking Boris" not "Boom Boom" or "Baron von Slam". Not sure if this is derogatory though.Pgr94 09:40, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

I've heard it said "Booty Shorts" Becker, due to his Daisy Duke shorts after the rest of the mainstream abandoned them.2602:304:CFD3:2EE0:6D62:3310:B0BA:DA6D (talk) 23:27, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Relation with Sabrina Setlur

This is not mentioned in the article, but Sabrina's article mentions Boris Becker. Can someone familiar with their relation add some information here?

Was there one?

The article mentionedonly says that there were rumours in (a certain kind of) press about that. VKing 06:05, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Weak?

"As a youngster, he was often the weakest of the boys in the area's tennis program and therefore, often ended-up playing the strongest of the girls in the program –- another future star, Steffi Graf –- in training matches."

Are their any official prooves of this? It's rather unbelievable, that a player, who at seventeen wins Wimbledon mainly thanks to his canon-like service, not long before was the weakest of the boys. VKing 17:27, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Taken this part away for a great deal. Now the doubt remains, whether it is true at all. If this article would content information about a fan-club or such, it could be asked indirectly or directly to the ex-player himself. VKing 17:21, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Think this can better be removed completely, untill reliable sources are mentioned. VKing 02:40, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Agreement

If there is infomation available about that, it would be interesting, to ad in the text, the reason(s)(if there were any) why the prenuptual agreement was ignored, and a pay-off, about 8,9,or 10 times as high was sentenced. VKing 06:18, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

American courts are not bound by a prenuptial agreement made in Germany.

I must check if they'd were or are valid in Germany even because there is a view that an agreement between two people (here even made under duress because of the impending birth) cannot set aside general legislation. 2001:8003:A070:7F00:183D:961D:96F9:627F (talk) 00:22, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

Garagist

Planning to add something about ownership of three Mercedes-garages in former Eastern-Germ., but not shure, whether this is still the case. Apart from that planning to add: "During a great deal of his carreer, he was living in Monaco" . (But exact years?). VKing 02:34, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Stockholm 1994

Stockholm 1994 was one of his most remarkable tournaments. He managed to defeat world's ranking#1,#2, and #3 in that same tournament;Goran Ivanisevic, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi. An event that is unique in tennis history. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mikerolli (talk • contribs) 09:12, 31 August 2007 (UTC) mikerolli 09:30, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

The changing fashions in tennis shorts The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

Speaking of 1994, why, oh WHY is that horrible picture of him wearing those gay shorts on this page, dated 1994? If I wanted to see a guy wearing Daisy Dukes, I'd go to a local gay bar, NOT Wikipedia!!!!! I heard that was the style back then, but WOW is that disgusting to look at! PLEASE, SOMEONE REPLACE IT!!!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.216.126.160 (talk) 03:40, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Then take a good look kid, styles are circular, what was popular in the 1980's will come back around. By the way, why are the length of an inseam an indicator to sexual preference? I've heard him called different names in the 90's, just like with John Stockton, but they started out wearing this style.2602:304:CFD3:2EE0:6D62:3310:B0BA:DA6D (talk) 23:33, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Why is it that women can wear next-to-nothing, either inside sport or outside, but men are required to cover up as much as possible? Is this the work of nervous covert heterosexists? (See a sad example above: 'disgusting to look at'. He [I'll bet anything it's a he] should speak for himself - although I can imagine him surrepticiously visiting a gay bar. Not everybody, male or female, finds the sight of the human male body disgusting.) In the not-long-distant past short shorts were ubiquitous in sportsmen - see the constantly-replayed archive footage of the victorious 1966 English World Cup team. Today only macho rugby players seem to uphold a time-honoured tradition. (Don't tangle with them!) Males now seem to be the Modest Sex - a strange outcome for the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s and 70s. But then we did have Thatcherism-Reaganism in between. I have just been watching Sport on Sky News. The young tanned female newsreader was wearing a top which would be the equivalent of a vest in a male newsreader. Imagine him being allowed the same liberty! I'm looking forward to the day when all male athletes, like their Ancient Greek antecedents, are required to perform in the nude. O Murr (talk) 00:40, 26 June 2018 (UTC)

Pokerstars

He has something to do with pokerstars.com now, why or how, I have no idea? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.95.171.31 (talk) 03:14, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

It is mentioned in the article. 2005 (talk) 03:44, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Notoriously ineffective on clay?

Whilst was undoubtably his worst service, is this phrase fair? Is three semi-finals in five years at Roland Garros notoriously ineffective? --MartMatt (talk) 23:14, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair or not, the "notoriously" adverb is uncited and, therefore, POV. Tennis expert (talk) 23:43, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Request for wider input on discussion at WikiProject Tennis

There is a long, ongoing discussion at WP:Tennis about the tournament tables found in tennis articles on English-language Wikipedia (e.g., this type of table). The discussion is about whether the "official sponsored name" of a tournament - such as Pacific Life Open - or another tournament name without the sponsor - such as Indian Wells Masters - must be used in those articles. Please join the discussion here. Thanks. Tennis expert (talk) 09:19, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Engagement

I disagree that a brief note of his highest personal news of note is unwarranted in the intro. I've shortened it to A) reflect a more subservient role to the tennis in the opening paragragh, and B)to reduce duplication of expansion of the story furtehr down. Alonsornunez (talk) 04:51, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

POV-section

Please neutralise, at least, the following:

• "...Becker took the sports world by storm..."
• "Becker unexpectedly lost..."
• "1989 was possibly the pinnacle of Becker's career."
• "comparing up the raw, passionate Becker to the level-headed, suave Stich"
• "Becker delivered one of the most humorous victory speeches in recent tennis history..."

The Rambling Man (talk) 11:39, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Is this something you can't do? Yeah, it needs to be done, but by the time you posted this "please do the following", I believe you could've just solved the problem. Tennis expert (talk) 11:44, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm leaving it to those who have expertise in the subject matter in case I make errors. The Rambling Man (talk) 11:50, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

I have been unable to find several of these statements in the current text. Others are individually marked. The comparison with Stich is arguably not a statement of fact, but a description of how media compared them.

Because I, further, consider the article unusually NPOV for an athlete's entry, I have taken the liberty to removed the NPOV-section. Any infractions, if still present, are likely better of being marked individually. 88.77.191.244 (talk) 16:36, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Longest match?

As I know the longest match was the Santoro-Clement with 6:33. Becker- McEnroe was officially 6:22. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/french/2004-05-25-santoro-clement_x.htm http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/5059822/ http://www.varioustopics.com/tennis/996922-santoro-clement-longest-match-ever-3.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by Scineram (talk • contribs) 09:42, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Jewish mother ?

I'd really like to believe it, but there doesn't seem to be reliable sources. I searched for hours and the only reference is "Jews in Sport" which links to an offline page as reference. Any better proves??? -84.59.79.250 (talk) 09:16, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

I have found no evidence to his "Jewishness" so far. Vanity Fair Germany says his mother's name is Elvira and his father's name is Karl-Heinz. His sister's name is given as Sabine. If you look at the source cited in the WP article, you'll find that he talks about a "jewish background". This does not necessarily imply that his mother IS Jewish. --Aquinate (talk) 12:15, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

UPDATE: Boris Becker married (again) last week. According to German newspapers and TV, there was a non-denominational Christian service in CHURCH. --Aquinate (talk) 10:16, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Well, Jews marry non-Jews in churches all the time (and in synagogues), so I wouldn't take that to mean anything. However, his mother is not Jewish; see the following excerpt from the New Straits Times, Dec. 5, 1999: "He was quoted in last month's Jewish Chronicle saying that his mother was actually Jewish, making him Jewish, too. Is that true? "That is not correct, I was misquoted. My mother, who was born Elvira Pisch, is not Jewish, she is Catholic, like my father, but part of her family is Jewish and she grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in Czechoslovakia". I don't know if that means his mother has Jewish ancestry or just some Jewish relatives - but either way, I think that exceprt mostly answers the question. All Hallow's Wraith (talk) 20:53, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Good source. Good work, All Hallow's Wraith. PLUS, if you look at the one website originally used to "prove" that Becker was Jewish, you'll find that he said that his mother had fled Czechoslovakia because of the advance of the Red Army. And she fled to GERMANY. Would that be a very likely course of action for Jews at the time? --Aquinate (talk) 11:15, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Broken link

ref 1. link is no longer good.--Billymac00 (talk) 08:08, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

Wct

In the article someone called the wct finals ad year end championship. That was only true back in the 1970s. The wct finals in the 80s was still a very important event but the wct by then wasn't really a separate circuit. Players played in both grand prix and wct events. Certainly by the late 1980s there were hardly any wct events. In 1987 and 1988 the were only 2 events a year outside Dallas. Hardly a year end championship. Dallas was still a prestigious event but as a stand alone not as a culmination of a separate circuits year like it was in earlier times. Hence I have changed reference and called it a major indoor championship in 1988 when Becker won — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.92.99.201 (talk) 10:40, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Through most of the 1970's and 1980's the WCT YE Finals were ranked higher than the Australian Open in terms of ranking points and prestige as seen here in 1976 Grand Prix European Circuit and in 1977 here: http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30365879/ and here in 1985: The-super-bowl-of-tennis, and here: http://www.oregonlive.com/14/07/can_roger_federer_top_the_greats.html.--Navops47 (talk) 12:43, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Anett Böszörményi

Some comments which Becker made about Marton Fucsovics' fiancee, Anett Böszörményi, during the 2021 Wimbledon tournament proved to be quite controversial: , , , , , etc. etc. perhaps this should be mentioned? Martinevans123 (talk) 22:27, 8 August 2021 (UTC)

Recent edits

In his professional career section, better to have separate paragraphs for each year. What are the objections to this? LionTank (talk) 18:20, 14 July 2025 (UTC)

Inaccuracy

Had a child With a Russian woman (not waitress) - I, Angela Ermakova, never in my life worked as a waitress, this was falsely asserted by tabloids as I was keeping absolute silence while the matter was in High Court, and a restaurant was involved in their stories to make a story more scandalous I worked in a film company . Ermakoange (talk) 21:38, 15 July 2025 (UTC)

Becker never got joint custody either. He only got parental responsibility while the mother Angela Ermakova always had custody of Anna. Anna always lived with her mother in London. Ermakoange (talk) 21:41, 15 July 2025 (UTC)

Proposed accuracy-focused rewrite (COI disclosure)

I am submitting a proposed replacement draft for review by an uninvolved editor. I have a declared conflict of interest and have therefore not edited the article directly. The proposed text corrects factual inaccuracies, updates post-playing career information, and aims to present a more balanced and proportionate biography in line with reliable secondary sources and Wikipedia’s Biographies of Living Persons policy. No material is intended to remove well-sourced, notable information.

Proposed replacement text

Boris Becker

Boris Franz Becker (born 22 November 1967) is a German former professional tennis player, coach and commentator. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential tennis players of his generation and one of the defining figures in men’s tennis of the late 20th century. Becker was ranked world No. 1 in men’s singles and won six Grand Slam singles titles: three at Wimbledon (1985, 1986, 1989), two at the Australian Open (1991, 1996), and one at the US Open (1989).

Becker achieved international prominence in 1985 when, aged 17, he became the youngest ever men’s singles champion at Wimbledon and the first unseeded player to win the title. His breakthrough victory is widely regarded as a landmark moment in modern tennis, contributing to the sport’s global popularity and redefining expectations of power, athleticism and attacking play on grass courts. Known for his powerful serve, aggressive net play and dynamic movement, Becker played a significant role in shaping attacking tennis during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Over the course of his playing career, Becker won 49 singles titles and 15 doubles titles on the ATP Tour. He was a key member of Germany’s Davis Cup-winning teams in 1988 and 1989, helping establish Germany as a leading nation in men’s tennis during that period.

After retiring from professional tennis in 1999, Becker remained closely involved in the sport as a commentator, analyst and coach. From 2013 to 2016, he served as head coach of Novak Djokovic. During this period, Djokovic won six Grand Slam singles titles and consolidated his position as world No. 1, holding the ranking for a record number of weeks.

In 2023, Becker briefly served as coach to Danish player Holger Rune, collaborating with him during part of the ATP Tour season.

From 2017 to 2021, Becker served as head of men’s tennis in Germany, overseeing the national men’s programme, including the Davis Cup team. During this time, he also acted as a mentor to Alexander Zverev, working closely with him during a formative period of his professional career.

Becker has continued to work as a tennis analyst and commentator for international broadcasters and has published several books reflecting on his sporting career, professional experiences and public life.

In 2022, Becker was convicted in the United Kingdom of offences under the Insolvency Act relating to his bankruptcy and was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment. He was released in December 2022 and subsequently deported to Germany.

Personal life

Becker married Barbara Feltus in December 1993; they divorced in 2001. They have two sons, Noah Gabriel Becker and Elias Balthazar Becker.

From a brief encounter, Becker has a daughter, Anna Ermakova. He later obtained joint custody, and she has since become a public figure in her own right.

Becker married Sharlely Kerssenberg in 2009. They have one son, Amadeus Benedict Becker. They separated in 2018 and subsequently divorced.

In September 2024, Becker married Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro. In November 2025, the couple announced the birth of their daughter, Zoë Vittoria Becker. ~2026-62908-4 (talk) 10:12, 29 January 2026 (UTC)