Georg Berres, who rose to fame a few years ago for squatting on legendary German tennis player Boris Becker's former estate in Mallorca between 2018 and 2019, recently addressed his followers on social media and launched an appeal for donations and alms, due to the hardships he is enduring in order to survive.
On social media, he described his current situation with the following words: ‘Dear friends, dear community, unfortunately I have no choice but to ask for help. Somehow, I have managed to survive day by day throughout the year, always getting a few euros from somewhere. But now things are getting really difficult. The tank is empty, I have to top up my internet connection and I only have enough food for about three days.’
A self-proclaimed hippie and free thinker, he leads a free life on the island living in a motorhome and has explained that ‘I have no choice but to swallow my pride and publish this request for donations. And if that means people label me a beggar or a parasite again, then so be it. Right now, there is no other option.’ The German also shared his bank details with internet users.
In an interview with Mallorca Magazin, he said that 2025 had been a constant rollercoaster ride for him. ‘I had practically no income, but I always got some money from somewhere, so I could keep going more or less week by week. It's not new to me, but I've never experienced it so extremely.’ Despite everything, he has overcome this phase and would not have wanted to miss any of the experiences he has had throughout this year.
In addition to asking for donations, Berres tries to stay afloat with creative and alternative offers. In 2024, he created a series of colourful images that he sells online on commission. The works are stylistically reminiscent of a mixture of comics and graffiti and show, among other things, scantily clad women, couples having sex, or fetish objects as symbols of desire. He also plans to organise an exhibition of his works in the near future.
On Saturday, he was able to sell one of his paintings. He said the income helped him pay his internet bills and secure his livelihood for the following week. He commented: ‘That helped me fill up my empty tank, pay for my internet and buy food for the next week (my dog and cat are fine, they're doing great here), so I plucked up the courage and asked for help on my channels... I don't need much either. With £500, I live like a king. Most months this year, I've lived on half that!’
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 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 former tennis star 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.