Boris Becker confirms Wimbledon 2023 stance on making return after leaving prison | Tennis | Sport

Boris Becker has confirmed that he won’t make his return to Wimbledon this year after being released from prison a few months ago – but indicated that he will be back at SW19 in the future. Becker has become a regular on the BBC’s coverage of the Wimbledon Championships over the years.

But he was absent from the 2022 tournament’s coverage as he was jailed for two-and-a-half years in April last year for hiding £2.5million of assets and loads to avoid paying debts after declaring bankruptcy. Becker spent 231 days in prison before being released in December and deported from the UK.

The six-time Grand Slam champion was back on TV for Eurosport’s coverage of the Australian Open earlier this year. But Becker, speaking in his first UK interview since being deported, has confirmed that he won’t be back working at Wimbledon this year.

“I miss London, it is my favourite city in the world,” Becker said on ITV’s This Morning.

“I’ve been there for a long time. I’m going to miss Wimbledon this year. I have to take my time before I will be coming back.”

A tell-all documentary with Apple called ‘Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker’ is set to be released at the start of next month. The trailer, released last week, featured cameos from the likes of John McEnroe and Novak Djokovic speaking about Becker’s legacy.

But the documentary will seemingly focus on Becker opening up on some of the darkest moments of his life as well as his successes. In one clip speaking about his time in prison, Becker teared up before saying: “I’ve hit my bottom. But that’s not the end yet, there is going to be another chapter.”

He also opened up on the affair with a Russian model that ended his first marriage. Becker had just been beaten by Pat Rafter at Wimbledon in 1999 when he went to a restaurant and had a now infamous fling with Angela Ermakova.

In the documentary, Becker reveals how he met Ermakova eight months on from their one night stand, only to be told she was pregnant with his child.”She came in, she had a big coat on,” he said. “She took the coat off and she was heavily pregnant. You just can’t believe it. The wake-up call came very late.”