Tennis legend Boris Becker was released from a UK prison in time for Christmas 2022 after serving less than half of his sentence for tax evasion. Three-time Wimbledon champion Becker was jailed for two-and-a-half years for hiding £2.5million worth of assets and loans to avoid paying his debts. The former world number one, now 57, was declared bankrupt on June 21st 2017, owing creditors almost £50m, over an unpaid loan of more than £3m on his estate in Mallorca.
Becker was jailed for two years and six months for hiding millions of pounds’ worth of assets after being made bankrupt in June 2017 at the end of April 2022 at London’s Southwark Crown Court.
Becker was found guilty in London of four charges under the Insolvency Act. Giving evidence, Becker said he earned a “vast amount” during his career, paying cash for a family home in Munich, a property in Miami and the estate in Mallorca, which was worth about €50m at the height of the property market.
Becker ran into numerous problems over the expansion of his villa and hardly ever used it - it became home to a group of squatters for years until it was sold. In his new book Inside, Boris Becker offers insights into his life – including the years he spent in Mallorca. In 1997, the former tennis pro purchased the finca Son Coll near Artà. The spacious property had 13 bedrooms, a meditation room and a large pool.
The property was intended as a retreat. Later, however, the finca became a legal problem. Due to building regulations issues and financial difficulties, it was transferred to the English private bank Arbuthnot Latham in 2019. In the meantime, the house stood empty, was squatted in and fell into disrepair. For many fans, however, it remained a symbolic place.
The Mallorca chapter is just one of many that Becker highlights in Inside. He presented the book at a premiere in Berlin on 11 September. Becker writes about his sporting triumphs as well as his personal low points. This includes his imprisonment in England. He openly describes his first night behind bars, which had a lasting impact on him. As prisoner A2923EV, he learned to cope with a completely different everyday life: a cell instead of a hotel, seclusion instead of the limelight.
During this time, his current partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro became his most important source of support. After more than seven months, Becker was deported to Germany – with less wealth, but, as he himself emphasises, with new insights. Even after losing his finca, the 57-year-old can still be found regularly in Mallorca. Most recently, he attended an exhibition opening by his son Noah at the Gerhardt Braun Gallery in Palma and the ATP tournament at the Mallorca Championships in Santa Ponsa.