Becker's reputation suffers as Wimbledon memories fade

Boris "Boom-Boom" Becker flashed across the tennis world like a comet in the mid-1980s, becoming West Germany's biggest post-war sporting idol.

But his appearance in a Munich court on tax evasion charges is the latest in a series of disasters, including a costly divorce and a string of failed business ventures, which have plagued Becker since he announced his retirement in 1999.

The three-times Wimbledon champion, renowned for his booming serve and never-say-die attitude, has now lost much of his fortune, as well as his credibility in Germany.

Things started to fall apart in 1999 when he and his German-American wife, Barbara Feltus, separated. The seven-year marriage ended in divorce in January 2001 after Becker agreed to a multi-million-dollar settlement.

Becker also agreed to pay a reported $2.8 million to a Russian model, Angela Ermakova, after admitting being the father of her daughter, born in March 2000.

Becker said the child was conceived in the laundry cupboard of a restaurant where he had been drinking heavily after losing his last Wimbledon match to Australian Pat Rafter in 1999.

He described the notorious incident as "five seconds that will haunt me for the rest of my life". Now the German authorities are chasing him for evading tax payments when he said he was living in the tax haven of Monaco.

YOUNG CHAMPION

Becker burst upon the tennis world in 1985 when he became the youngest men's Wimbledon champion at just 17.

He was the first unseeded player to win the championship and the big, red-haired youngster captured the hearts of tennis fans everywhere with his full-blooded serves, acrobatic volleying and courageous fight-backs.

He coupled natural modesty with an outgoing manner. But it was his buccaneering serve-volley game on Wimbledon's grass, which he called his own back yard, that proved the clincher.

With his Wimbledon victory in 1985, Becker almost single-handedly turned the country from a tennis backwater to a potent force in the sport.

He charmed his way into German hearts to a degree unrivalled by any sporting personality, giving the German language a new catch word -- "Beckermania".

Becker's appearance in the latter stages of tournaments caused frantic rescheduling of television programmes by networks anxious to satisfy an insatiable public.

ARCHITECT FATHER

Becker was born on November 22, 1967, in Leimen, a small town near Heidelberg, to Elvira and Karl-Heinz Becker.

He was no more than a toddler when his father, an architect and tennis enthusiast, introduced him to the sport he later came to dominate. He began taking lessons at the age of five from former Yugoslav Davis Cup player, Boris Breskvar.

Breskvar, who was also the West German Tennis Federation (DTB) trainer for the area, coached Becker for 10 years. He said the boy's will to win was his most impressive asset.

Becker was enrolled in the DTB's youth scheme and despite detractors who bemoaned a lack of mobility, he blossomed.

Those outside the DTB ranks were given a hint of his potential when he won the West German youth championship in 1982 at the age of 14, a title he retained for the next two years.

In 1983 he went to Florida to compete in the under-16s at the Orange Bowl, the unofficial world youth championships, losing in the final.

In the 1984 Australian Open, he reached the last 16 and he romped through to the third round at Wimbledon before an ankle injury forced a two-month layoff.

By this time he had turned professional. His coach Guenther Bosch drew Becker's talent to the attention of fellow -Romanian Ion Tiriac, the mentor of Argentina's Guillermo Vilas.

Tiriac became Becker's manager and invested 150,000 dollars a year in the young player, perhaps forseeing some of the $24.9 million prize money he would win during his 16-year career.

After 1985, Becker went on to win the Wimbledon title twice more, beating Ivan Lendl in 1986 and Stefan Edberg in 1989. He also lost in the final four times, most recently in 1995.

He claimed three other Grand Slam titles, winning his last at the Australian Open in 1996, although he never went further than the semi-finals at the French Open where the clay surface did not suit his power game.

Becker, who reached the world number one spot in 1991, was a member of the German Davis Cup squad for many years, helping his country to the title in 1988 and 1989.

He also won an Olympic gold with compatriot Michael Stich in the doubles at the 1992 Barcelona Games.