Even today nightmares: Boris Becker writes about “most painful experiences”

Ex-tennis professional Boris Becker spent more than seven months in British prisons. The triple Wimbledon winner has now written a book about his time behind bars. For this he was immersed in the “most painful experiences” of his life, the 57-year-old wrote on Instagram. Under the title “Inside. Win – Losing – Start again”, the book is to be released on September 10th at Ullstein Verlag.

Becker described the detention in Great Britain several times in interviews than a drastic experience. The letter was now his attempt to “heal and find a way to make sense of the whole,” said Becker. He was confronted with memories that he “would rather forget”. He still followed nightmares about his time in British imprisonment.

After financial difficulties in going to the insolvency administrator, the former world star kept silent for assets in the millions. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in April 2022. In prison, he came into contact with violent actors, some of whom wanted to have his collar, but others also protected him, as he said. The time passed faster than expected: because of a special regulation, it was released in December 2022.

Becker: “It was very brutal”

At the beginning of his imprisonment, Becker was housed in the London Wandsworth prison, which was infamous for his poor conditions. Then he was moved to the Huntercombe prison with a lower safety level. The tennis star from Leimen later said that the detention had hardened and made him a better person.

“Anyone who says that life behind bars is not hard and difficult is lying,” Becker said in a BBC interview in 2023. “It was very brutal, a very, very different experience than what you can see on TV and hear in stories.” He quickly learned that he needed protection and had to surround himself with “hard boys”. “You fight for survival every day.”

The condition of British prisons always makes headlines – because of overcrowding, rats or violence. The detention centers in England and Wales were so overcrowded last summer that the new government had to release prisoners prematurely to avoid a collapse of the judicial system.

Becker lives in Milan in Italy today

Most recently, it seemed to go up again for Becker: he took part in the British reality series “Celebrity Bear Hunt”, which runs at Netflix, and started the tennis podcast “Becker Petkovic” together with the former tennis player Andrea Petkovic at the beginning of the year. Becker has also been a TV expert and commentator for Eurosport since his release.

Becker is now married for the third time. Together with Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, he lives in the northern Italian metropolis of Milan. Last year the two gave themselves the yes word in a private wedding ceremony in a luxury holiday destination Portofino on the Italian Riviera in a private wedding ceremony.

A good two years after his release, he first tell his truth in the book – “honestly, unfiltered and unmasked,” continued Becker in the Instagram post. His hope is also that “this raw, honest story appeals to people beyond tennis and touches hearts who know how to fall and get up again”.