Boris Becker’s sons Noah and Elias visit their fallen tennis ace father for the first time in prison – after Novak Djokovic said he was supporting his jailed former coach’s family
- Disgraced tennis star Boris Becker has been visited by his sons and girlfriend in jail for the first time today
- Noah Becker, 28, and Elias Becker, 22, accompanied Lillian De Carvalho Monteiro to HMP Huntercombe
- Former world number one Becker was jailed for hiding £2.5million of assets and loans to avoid paying debts
- The 54-year-old German was declared bankrupt on June 21, 2017 – owing creditors almost £50million
- Serb star Novak Djokovic is supporting his shamed coach’s family and hosted Noah in his player’s box
Disgraced tennis star Boris Becker has been visited by his sons and girlfriend in jail for the first time today.
Noah Becker, 28, and his younger brother Elias Becker, 22, accompanied Lillian De Carvalho Monteiro to see the ex-Wimbledon champion in HMP Huntercombe near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire as he serves a two-and-a-half year sentence for fraud.
Former world number one Becker, who has provided commentary for the BBC’s SW19 coverage since 2002, was jailed in April for hiding £2.5million of assets and loans to avoid paying his debts.
The 54-year-old German was declared bankrupt on June 21, 2017 – owing creditors almost £50million – over an unpaid loan of more than £3million on his estate in Mallorca.
Becker, who has lived in the UK since 2012, is expected to serve half of his sentence behind bars.
Serb star Novak Djokovic told a Wimbledon press conference that he is supporting his shamed coach’s family, and has been hosting Becker’s girlfriend and son Noah in his player’s box at The Championships in a show of support for the family.
Boris Becker’s two eldest sons Noah and Elias join his girlfriend Lillian de Carvalho Monterio at HMP Huntercombe today
Becker’s sons and girlfriend wait outside HMP Huntercombe today as they visit the fallen tennis star for the first time
Becker’s sons Noah and Elias laugh together as they talk to the HMP Huntercombe entrance today
Boris Becker and Lilian de Carvalho arriving at Southwark Crown Court on April 29, 2022
Noah and Elias join their father’s girlfriend Lillian de Carvalho Monterio as they visit Becker in jail today
Lillian de Carvalho Monterio is last to leave HMP Huntercombe today as she and Noah and Elias visit their father
Noah Becker is pictured walking outside HMP Huntercombe today as he visits his jailed father
Lillian de Carvalho Monterio visits her jailed boyfriend Boris Becker at HMP Huntercombe today
Wimbledon viewers have slammed the BBC after John McEnroe and Sue Barker paid tribute to jailed Boris Becker live-on-air.
The British and American tennis legends sent their support to their former colleague, who is currently serving a prison sentence for bankruptcy fraud.
During the first day of coverage yesterday, seven-time Grand Slam winner McEnroe said in commentary: ‘Boris, we love you. We miss you, man.’
He was joined by Barker, who is anchoring coverage of the tournament for the final time, who said: ‘We do indeed, well said.’
The words drew outrage from some viewers who were angry at the apparent support for the convicted criminal, who had been part of the BBC’s coverage of Wimbledon last year, but was jailed on April 29 this year.
Despite his conviction he is thought of fondly by former colleagues, while his girlfriend Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro and his eldest son Noah sat in Novak Djokovic’s box on day one of the tournament.
The six-time Grand Slam champion is currently serving a two-and-a-half year prison sentence HMP Huntercombe, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, after he was found guilty of hiding £2.5million worth of assets and loans to avoid paying off debts when he was declared bankrupt in 2017.
Some viewers hit out at the presenters and suggested they should not be showing support for the 54-year-old on-air.
Speaking after winning his second-round singles match on Wednesday, Djokovic said: ‘I haven’t been communicating directly to him but I’ve been communicating to him through them.
‘I was really glad to have hosted his girlfriend and his son, Noah, to my first round and now today second-round match.
‘Noah and his younger brother Elias are going to visit Boris I think in the next few days, for the first time since he went to prison.
‘I’ve just been trying to give support to people around him, his closest people, his family members, because I consider Boris really a family member, someone that I greatly appreciate, respect and care about.
‘We’ve been through a lot together during those three years of collaboration. Our relationship dates back even before that. Of course, after we finished our professional relationship, we always stayed close, him with my team, with my agents, with my family.
‘It breaks my heart to see what’s happening to him. I can only imagine how hard it is for his family members. So, of course, this is a little gesture of friendship to invite them.
‘He knows and they know that they can always count on me for whatever support or help I can provide.’
Becker, who lived in Monte Carlo and Switzerland before moving to the UK, previously told Southwark Crown Court he had ‘expensive lifestyle commitments’, including a £22,000-a-month rental house in Wimbledon, South West London.
He was declared bankrupt on June 21, 2017 over an unpaid loan of more than £3million on his estate in Mallorca. He had been accused of hiding millions of pounds worth of assets, including two Wimbledon trophies, to avoid paying his debts.
Becker claimed he had cooperated with trustees tasked with securing his assets, even offering up his wedding ring, and had acted on expert advice.
Rebecca Chalkley, prosecuting, told Southwark Crown Court: ‘Looking at the way the case was put and the route to verdict it is the prosecution submission that the jury rejected his case that he did not act dishonestly and must have found that he did’
She continued: ‘None of the money in count four, the money transferred to third parties, was in sterling £390,000. It is the prosecution case the full amount is recoverable or should be accounted for and not just the 50 per cent that Mr Laidlaw submits.
‘It is correct the jury has found the defendant didn’t know about the prescribed period, or they did conclude that the transfer to the other Boris Becker accounts was not concealments but they did find him guilty on transfer to the third parties which are these payments.
‘The transfer of all of the payments the jury must have concluded that it was deliberate and dishonest.
‘Applying the way the case was put, there is a way to see the jury returned the verdicts they did looking at the difference between the prescribed period and the bankrupt period, the third parties and to the separate Boris Becker accounts.’
She said the house in Leimen that has yet to be sold is worth £1.53million.
Ms Chalkley said: ‘The reason the full amount is listed is that he sought to deprive that amount from the estate and at the moment that has not been returned to the creditors.
‘It will be available yes, but there is a distinction to be drawn from the money lost, and in regards to actual money lost is the £390,000 and what was sought to be lost was the £1.53million.’
Pictured: Novak Djokovic hosted Boris Becker’s girlfriend Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro and son Noah Gabriel Becker in his box during his round two victory on day three of Wimbledon
Becker coaching Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park for the Australian Open tennis tournament in January 2014
Djokovic celebrating beating Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round on Wednesday
Boris Becker was moved to prison for foreign criminals facing deportation – increasing chances he will be booted out of Britain after serving 2½ years for fraudulently concealing assets
Fallen tennis idol Boris Becker was transferred to a prison for foreigners – making it more likely he will be deported.
The three-time Wimbledon champion, 54, is now being held at Huntercombe Jail in Oxfordshire after being moved from Wandsworth in London.
The German player-turned-TV pundit was jailed for two and a half years last month for fraudulently concealing £2.5million after being declared bankrupt in 2017.
Huntercombe is a Category C prison which houses only foreign criminals who are typically due for deportation.
At Wandsworth – a higher security Category B jail – he had been held on a wing for ‘vulnerable prisoners’ including paedophiles and policemen likely to face attack.
The 170-year-old Victorian building was described in an inspection last year as a ‘crumbling, overcrowded, vermin-infested prison’ where inmates were ‘desperately bored’.
By contrast, Huntercombe, near Henley-on-Thames, was considered in its last inspection to be a ‘safe, decent and purposeful’ prison.
Last year inmates were even treated to a ‘film-making and interview course’. The prison also has its own TV channel.
Becker could work out in the gym, and play basketball or football – but there is not believed to be a tennis court.
The Insolvency Service has confirmed Becker is still an undischarged bankrupt and will stay that way until October 2031.
The court was also told in April that Becker has ‘fallen from grace’ and ‘will have to rely on the charity of others to survive’.
He has suffered ‘public humiliation’ and has ‘no future’ following his conviction for hiding assets from the Insolvency Service, his barrister said.
He added that his actions were a tragedy, destroying a ‘glittering’ career and has left him with ‘literally nothing’.
Mitigating today, Jonathan Laidlaw QC, said: ‘I submit, and I hope this is not an exaggeration, Boris Becker has literally nothing and there is nothing to show for what was the most glittering of sporting careers.
‘That is nothing short of a tragedy. His fall is not simply a fall from grace but amounts to the most public of humiliations for this man.
‘His degree of suffering is punishment at a level that no other bankrupt in this country is likely to experience. So in terms of the defendant’s future, in reality there is not one.
‘These proceedings have destroyed his career, removed any future prospect of him earning any income and his brand is in tatters. He won’t be able to find work and will have to rely on the charity of others if he is to survive.’
Earlier the court heard he was in ‘desperate financial straits’ and chose who to give money to rather than the trustees in charge of his bankruptcy.
His lawyer has said that he transferred money to ‘settle debts’ and ‘meet his obligations’ to his ex-wife and estranged wife.
He also said Becker now has ‘nothing’ and ‘nothing to show for what was the most glittering of sporting careers’.
The court heard the original bankruptcy including the British private bank Arbuthnot Latham was £49,181,724. Excluding the bank, it was £40,067,065. What has been realised to date is £3.184million.
Mr Laidlaw QC said: ‘He was in desperate financial straits and what in essence he has done and this is the basis of his culpability.
‘He has exercised his own choice to which creditors to pay choosing or preferring to pay monies to dependents allowing than allowing the trustees to choose how that money can be applied.
‘That is a criminal offence, but…this is a very different basis for sentence than has been contended before.’
He added: ‘Would those payments out to others necessarily been disallowed by the trustee in bankruptcy?
‘Against this background plainly the defendant had to continue to support his ex-wife and that would have been consistent with the orders of the court.
‘He was estranged from his then-wife and furthermore with the consent of the joint trustees he had been allowed to continue to work. Almost all of the money falls into those categories.
‘I accept the point you make, and hope the court would also accept, that it is preference the defendant is exercising which is plainly not something he should have done but those payments may have been approved by the trustee in bankruptcy.
‘We’re not concerned about the money being spent on a lavish lifestyle or gambling or something like that.’
Mr Laidlaw also invited the judge to reject that Becker got a mortgage on a house in order to stop creditors from seizing it.
He said: ‘I invite you to reject in round terms the loan, the mortgage, was sought with bankruptcy in mind. That is a submission that must fail.
‘The evidence was the loan was granted on 27 March. That was a month before the petition was presented and two months before he was served with the petition on 28 May. It couldn’t have been a device that the prosecution is suggesting.’
The rise and fall of a tennis legend: How Boris Becker went from Wimbledon teen sensation, to conceiving a child in a Mayfair restaurant, bankruptcy and facing seven years in prison
Few spots stars have ever hit the height of Boris Becker’s tennis careers – and none as young as the German ace.
Born in Leimen, West Germany, in 1967, Becker, the son of an architect father and a Czech immigrant mother, was thrust into the world of tennis from a young age.
His father founded a tennis centre in the town, where Becker honed his skills early on.
By the age of 10, in 1977, he was a member of the junior team of the Baden Tennis Association.
He went on to win the South German championship and the first German Youth Tennis Tournament.
After winning funding for training from the German Tennis Federation, he turned professional at 16 in 1984, winning the Tennis World Young Masters at the NEC in Birmingham in 1985, before claiming victory at Queens in June.
In July 1985, aged 17, he entered Wimbledon as an unseeded player and took the tournament by storm, beating Kevin Curren by four sets in the final
Two weeks later, in July, aged 17, 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 old he became the youngest men’s singles champion at SW19 – and immediately became a household name.
The following year he defend his title, beating then world number one Ivan Lendl to secure back-to-back Wimbledon titles.
He appeared in 77 finals and won 49 singles titles during his 16 years as a tennis pro.
But by 1993, facing criticism over his marriage to wife Barbara and tax problems with the German government, had caused Becker to slide into a severe mid-career decline.
In 1997, Becker lost to Sampras in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. After that match, he vowed that he would never play at Wimbledon again.
However he returned one more time to the prestigious west London tennis club, in 1999, this time losing in the fourth round to Patrick Rafter.
Off the court, his personal troubles continued. He had to pay £2.4million after he fathered a daughter, named Anna, with a Russian model while married to wife Barbara.
That incident took place after he crashed out of Wimbledon to Rafter in 1999 and decided to retire from the sport, aged 31.
Becker, in his 2003 autobiography, Stay A Moment Longer, 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, seven months’ pregnant with their second son, wanted him to stay at their hotel with her.
But by 1993, facing criticism over his marriage to wife Barbara and tax problems with the German government, had caused Becker to slide into a severe mid-career decline
‘She couldn’t and wouldn’t understand that she suddenly wasn’t first in my priorities,’ said Becker.
‘I said, ‘Just once more with the lads, Barbara, just once more to say farewell and then it’s only you’. That didn’t work. We rowed for two whole hours. Suddenly she was in pain and decided to check into hospital.;
Becker said he told his wife to call him if the baby was really on the way, then hit the town.
By 11pm he was at the bar in Mayfair’s Nobu and spotted Russian model Angela Ermakowa. The pair had sex on the staircase in the London outpost.
The following February his secretary handed him a fax in his Munich office. It read: ‘Dear Herr Becker, We met in Nobu in London. The result of that meeting is now eight months old.’
He later split from his first wife Barbara Feltus, a divorce which is estimated to have cost him more than £15million, as well as their home in Miami.
Becker found a new post-tennis purpose soon after, joining the BBC for its annual coverage of Wimbledon – to great success.
But his personal problems continued. He had a short engagement to Alessandra Meyer-Wölden in 2008, before announcing that he and Dutch model Sharlely ‘Lilly’ Kerssenberg would marry in 2009.
After nine years of marriage, and a child, Becker’s fourth, the pair split in 2018.
A year earlier, Becker had been declared bankrupt in June 2017 over an unpaid loan of more than £3million on his estate in Mallorca, Spain.
His former business partner, Hans-Dieter Cleven, also claimed that the former tennis ace owed him more than £30million – though the case that was rejected by a Swiss court.
Now Becker faces another bump in the road – perhaps the most serious yet – after being found guilty of four counts relating to the Insolvency Act earlier this month.
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