Boris Becker earned £38 million from tennis but suffered a bad divorce, has ‘expensive lifestyle commitments’ and does not know how many bank accounts he owns, a court has heard.
The former tennis star, 54, is standing trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of failing to hand over assets, including nine trophies and medals, after he was declared bankrupt in June 2017.
Becker gave evidence in his own trial today, occasionally assisted by an German interpreter.
His barrister Jonathan Laidlaw QC took him through his glittering career, which included becoming the youngest player to win the Wimbledon men’s singles titles, aged 17, in 1985.
The court heard Becker has earned a ‘vast amount’ of money during his time on the court, winning around around £38m in prize money and sponsorship deals.
He told the court he used the money to help his parents build a house in his native Germany and paid cash for a family home in Munich, a property in Miami and an estate in Mallorca – together worth about just under £42m at the height of the property market.
However, Becker said his earnings ‘reduced dramatically’ when he retired from tennis in 1999.
He said he was involved in a ‘very expensive divorce’ with ex-wife Barbara Becker in two years later, involving high maintenance payments to their two sons, and had to support his daughter Anna Ermakova and her mother in a deal which included a £2.5m Chelsea flat.
Becker also said he had ‘expensive lifestyle commitments’ – including paying £22,000 in monthly rent for a house in Wimbledon.
And the six-time Grand Slam winner admitted he would not be able to give an accurate answer if asked how many bank accounts he owns.
German former tennis player Boris Becker and girlfriend Lilian de Carvalho are seen returning to court where the German is facing a bankruptcy trial and has been charged with 24 counts relating to concealing assets in Southwark Crown Court today
Barbara Becker, ex-wife of Boris, is pictured at the Bambi Awards in Berlin, Germany, in November 2018
Boris Becker and his former partner Sharlely Kerssenberg pictured together at a Wimbledon cocktail party in 2015
Following his retirement, Becker went on to coach current world number one Novak Djokovic, work as a BBC commentator and took up a role as brand ambassador for firms including Puma.
He lived in Monte Carlo and Switzerland before moving to the UK in 2012.
But on top of the £22,000 a month Wimbledon property, Becker owed around £4m to the Swiss authorities and around £800,000 in liabilities over a conviction for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion in Germany in 2002.
The conviction related to maintaining properties in Germany while he was registered in Monaco.
Becker’s bankruptcy arose from a £3.85m loan from private bank Arbuthnot Latham in 2013 and £1.2m, with a 25 per cent interest rate, borrowed from British businessman John Caudwell the following year, the court heard.
At the time, his yearly earnings totalled around £2.5m, but Becker said his income ‘fell at least 50 per cent’ and he struggled to make the repayments.
He told the court: ‘The first year of the loan, I would pay back roughly one million euro (more than £800,000) but in the second year I had difficulties because various companies didn’t prolong their contracts.
‘My image wasn’t as good any more, brand Becker was not regarded as highly as before and they didn’t want to be associated with a brand that was criticised in the media.’
Becker said he faced negative publicity ‘all around the world’, but especially in his native Germany and the UK, which has impacted his earning capabilities.
He continued: ‘(It is) very difficult when you are bankrupt and in the headlines every week for it. (It is) very difficult to make a lot of money with my name.’
As the success of his tennis career grew, the court heard that the number of agents and advisors running his day to day life also increased.
He said: ‘My role was to practice, to play well and win tournaments but literally everything else was taken care of.’
Becker added that he would spend ’35 to 40 weeks a year’ travelling and living out of suitcases in hotels.
And while he had ban k accounts in his name, he claimed he never saw the bills or had any kind of access to their details.
Mr Laidlaw asked: ‘If somebody had said to you how many bank accounts do you have, either personal or corporate entities in Germany or indeed elsewhere, would you be able to give an accurate answer?’
‘I wouldn’t have known,’ replied Becker.
The former tennis star pictured outside Southwark Crown Court on March 21 after the first day of his bankruptcy trial
Becker pictured in the studio working for the BBC during a Wimbledon tournament
Becker hits a return during a match at the Men’s 1989 US Open Tennis Championships at the USTA National Tennis Center in the Queens borough of New York City
He also revealed he was ‘shocked’ and ’embarrassed’ after he was declared bankrupt days before he was due to commentate on a Wimbledon tournament.
Becker said he had been seeking to pay off the loan from Arbuthnot Latham, including through the sale of his estate in Mallorca, Spain, known as the Finca.
He continued: ‘Because it was all over world news, and I walked through the gate of Wimbledon and everyone knew. I was embarrassed because I was bankrupt.’
Becker also told the court of how his first wife Barbara endured threats to her life in Germany.
He said he had moved to Monte Carlo in order to make use of the better training facilities but ‘regularly’ stayed in Germany during the period he was convicted of tax evasion.
Becker said he suffered a lot of injuries and his sports doctor was in Munich, while he also increased his stays in the city because his Barbara was based there.
Mr Laidlaw asked him: ‘Barbara is a black woman. How was that relationship between you been received within sections of the German press?’
Becker replied: ‘Members of the media wanted me to be with a German-looking blonde wife.
‘After we got married and got first seen she had threats to her life, that were covered by the police.’
Jurors heard Becker had two sons with his first wife, as well as a daughter called Anna he had with another woman in circumstances receiving ‘a certain amount of publicity’.
In 2002, Becker divorced his first wife Barbara and as part of the settlement gave her a property in Miami purchased for a lump sum of 5million Deutschmark.
The former tennis star denies 24 charges under the Insolvency Act.
These include nine counts of failing to hand over trophies and other awards, seven of concealing property, five of failing to disclose estate, two of removal of property and one of concealing debt.
He is accused of failing to hand over nine trophies, including two of his three Wimbledon men’s singles titles, an Olympic gold medal, his 1991 and 1996 Australian Open trophies and his Davis Cup trophy and gold coin.
Becker is also alleged to have hidden around £950,000 from the sale of a Mercedes car dealership he owned in Germany, and transferred hundreds of thousands of pounds to other accounts, including those of his ex-wife Barbara Becker and estranged wife Sharlely “Lilly” Becker, the mother of his fourth child.
He is also accused of failing to declare two German properties, as well as his interest in the flat occupied by his daughter, and hiding an 825,000 euro (almost £700,000) bank loan and shares in a tech firm.
