Boris Becker insists prison has made him ‘stronger’ as he posts New Year’s message

Few sports stars have ever reached the pinnacle of Boris Becker’s tennis career – and none as young as the German ace.

Born in Leimen, West Germany in 1967, Becker was thrust into the world of tennis at an early age.

His mother was a Czech immigrant, while his father, an architect, founded a tennis center in town where Becker honed his skills from an early age.

At the age of ten he was a member of the junior team of the Baden Tennis Association.

He won the Southern German Championship and the first German youth tennis tournament.

After receiving training funding from the German Tennis Association, he turned pro at 16 and won the 1985 Tennis World Young Masters at the NEC in Birmingham before claiming victory in Queens in June.

In July 1985, at the age of 17, he entered Wimbledon as an unseeded player and took the tournament by storm, beating Kevin Curren in the four-set final

Two weeks later, he entered Wimbledon as an unseeded player and took the tournament by storm, beating Kevin Curren by four sets in the final.

At just 17 years and 228 days he became the youngest champion in men’s singles at SW19 – and immediately made a name for himself.

The following year he retained his title, beating then world number one Ivan Lendl to secure back-to-back Wimbledon titles.

In his 16 years as a tennis pro, he appeared in 77 finals and won 49 singles titles.

But in 1993, when he was criticized for his marriage to wife Barbara and tax problems with the German government, Becker slid into a serious decline in the middle of his career.

In 1997, Becker lost to Pete Sampras in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. After that game, he swore he would never play Wimbledon again.

However, in 1999 he returned once more to the prestigious West London Tennis Club, this time losing to Patrick Rafter in the fourth round.

Off the pitch, his personal troubles continued. He was forced to pay £2.4million after fathering a daughter named Anna with a Russian model while he was married to his wife Barbara.

This incident came after he fell after rafting from Wimbledon in 1999 and decided to retire from the sport at the age of 31.

In his 2003 autobiography Stay A Moment Longer, Becker revealed how he “cried my eyes out” and felt the need to go out for a few beers with friends.

However, his then-wife Barbara, who was seven months pregnant with their second son, wanted him to stay with her at their hotel.

But in 1993, when he was criticized for his marriage to wife Barbara and tax problems with the German government, Becker slid into a serious decline in the middle of his career

“She couldn’t and didn’t want to understand that she was suddenly no longer my top priority,” said Becker.

“I said, ‘Just one more time with the boys, Barbara, just one more goodbye and then you’ll just be you.’ That did not work. We rowed for two full hours. Suddenly she was in pain and decided to go to the hospital.”

Becker said he told his wife to call him if the baby was really on the way and then go into town.

By 11pm he was at the bar in Mayfair’s Nobu and spotted Russian model Angela Ermakowa. The couple had sex on the stairs.

The following February, his secretary in his Munich office handed him a fax. It read: “Dear Mr. Becker, we met at the Nobu in London. The result of this meeting is now eight months old.”

He later split from his first wife – a divorce estimated to have cost him more than £15million, as well as their Miami home.

Becker soon found a new job after tennis, joining the BBC for their annual coverage of Wimbledon – to great success.

But his personal troubles continued. In 2008, he was briefly engaged to Alessandra Meyer-Wölden before announcing that he and Dutch model Sharlely “Lilly” Kerssenberg would be wed in 2009.

After nine years of marriage and one child – Becker’s fourth – the couple separated in 2018.

A year earlier, Becker had been declared bankrupt in June 2017 over an unpaid loan of more than £3million at his estate in Mallorca, Spain.

His former business partner Hans-Dieter Cleven also claimed the former tennis ace owed him more than £30million – although the case was dismissed by a Swiss court.