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Convicted tennis ace Boris Becker described how convicted murderers threatened to kill him in prison, both for his money and to force him to do laundry.
The three-time Wimbledon champion sat down for a controversial £435,000 interview with Sat TV, describing going to prison looking like “a gangster looking for protection”.
The documentary began with Becker being filmed getting out of a disabled minivan at the Munich television studios with his painter and musician son Noah and his girlfriend Lilian.
Dressed in black, they are seen entering the Sat 1 studio, with interviewer Steven Gatjen discussing photos from Huntercombe where he visited Becker with Lilian twelve days ago and spent two hours with him under the supervision of four guards.
Boris Becker revealed that he was threatened by assassins while in prison in an interview with the German television channel Sat1.
Sat 1 editor-in-chief Julian Esling, who was also on the visit, said: ‘Lilian can speak many languages, including English, German and Portuguese, and can switch to really good German. She and Boris seemed very familiar and in love.
The disgraced sports star explained how he had “escaped the press” by staying with friends in southern Germany and avoiding public places and hotels.
Becker said: “I was with good friends in southern Germany, and I have great friends, but they don’t want to be named.” No newspaper could find me and I was able to hide there with them for a while.
“We had to be very difficult and we weren’t going anywhere public and I held back a bit until we came to Munich for the interview. We don’t play hide and seek anymore, but it worked and so far no one has been able to take a picture of me.
The interview proper began with Becker sitting at a table across from the host, looking noticeably thinner than when he was sentenced in April. He said: “First of all, thanks for the invite and of course I was guilty.”
He added: ‘I went to jail weighing 97 kilograms and then I was 90 kg, but a few kilograms have since been added. The prison was good for my health, there was no alcohol except homemade brandy.
Becker also revealed how he classified spiritual help during his trial, saying, “I went to church every day to pray.”
Becker pictured in April at Southwark Crown Court, just before he was jailed
The interview then switched to Lilian, who was sitting nearby, and Becker burst into tears, revealing that the day he was sentenced was also his birthday.
He said: ‘I took the opportunity and bought her white roses, but it was a sad day for me and us. It couldn’t have been more amazingly written.
Blinking back tears, he added: ‘My lawyer came around 2pm to tell me to be ready as there was a verdict. Lilian and Noah came with me and we all hugged each other for a long time because I knew that after the verdict I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye.
The courtroom goes right down to the basement behind a glass partition and then they take you away. There is nothing more brutal than that.
Asking for a few seconds to collect himself, Becker added: ‘I told Lilian. ‘My love, you don’t have to wait for me. I don’t know how long I’ll have to go to prison.’
He looked at me and said: ‘Boris, we are a team and you are my partner.’ She looked at me and hugged me saying “Don’t talk shit”.
Becker later recalled how he first arrived at HMP Wandsworth after being found guilty, saying: ‘I was looking at the flat a lot. He didn’t want to look anyone in the eye and upset them.
‘It was extremely dangerous and extremely dirty. It’s just cell after cell and you meet all sorts in there, all of London’s criminals, murderers, child molesters, drug dealers and rapists.
“They frisked me, because they look for drugs and mobile phone parts and then they took a picture of me and some people wanted to take a picture with me.”
When Becker went to HMP Wandsworth, he said he dressed like ‘a gangster’ to protect himself, but his clothes were removed beforehand.
He added: ‘I had two big concerns, one was a double cell, sharing a cell with someone who might attack or threaten you and then the shower stalls.
‘You close the door, take off your clothes and look behind you, it’s not human. You watched the movies and dropped the soap, but then the governor explained to me that it would be safe, so I thanked him.
Becker continued: ‘That was my house at HMP Wandsworth, there are no mirrors in the cell because you can break it and use it as a weapon, but when I moved to Huntercombe and saw myself in the mirror I was shocked at the way it looked.’
When asked what he had taken to jail, Becker said, “I wanted to look cool, so I had a hoodie, to look like a gangster to protect myself, and a baseball cap, it was all black.”
“But they said ‘nice try’ and gave me gray jogging pants and a gray sweatshirt, but they were all too small.” The main thing is to go unnoticed in prison.
Becker revealed that he thought he would ‘lose my life in Wandsworth’ in his interview with Sat TV
He added: “When the cell door slams shut at 8pm, no one told me when it would open again and that’s when your whole world collapses and you’re alone with your thoughts.” I was desperate, I was scared and I bought some books with me to read.
“The food was always the same during the week, rice and potatoes, but on Sunday we had a roast, usually chicken.”
Becker also revealed how his life was threatened twice in prison, once in Wandsworth and once in Huntercombe, both by convicted murderers.
He said: “I thought I would lose my life in Wandsworth, someone, a murderer I found out later, wanted my coat and he wanted money and he said he would kill me if I didn’t get it.”
Then in Huntercombe another killer said they wanted to kill me, he told me what he was going to do to me unless I let him wash my clothes, this was very recently, in October and when he told me my food tray was shaking. .
“But in the end, the next day, he got down on one knee in front of me, apologized, kissed my hand and said he respected me.
“Three people saved me in prison, they were James, Russell and Bill, they were listeners and they knew the way and they wanted to protect me too.”
Becker revealed that he taught English and German at Huntercombe, saying: “Having a job was important in prison, it made my life easier.”
It also emerged in the hour-long interview that Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp had asked to visit him: “We are good friends and I gave his name to the authorities, but then they came back and said I couldn’t come because he was too famous.” and they were concerned for his safety.
‘They allowed me two visits a month and I had to give these names to the authorities so they could verify them, but it’s a very slow process. The first time Lilian came, she said that she was surprised by my appearance, though she only told me later.
Boris Becker’s mother, Elvira, was seen for the first time in public on Tuesday just before her son’s controversial £435,000 interview with German television station Sat 1.
Becker explained how all his money in prison was spent on soap, shower gel, toothpaste and phone calls, but since he only had £7 a week, it didn’t go far: “I had to get Lilian to call my mum and my children and my agent.
Then a priest came to visit me and I asked him to help me call my mother since it was Mother’s Day in Germany, I told him I couldn’t do it from my cell, so I talked to her and said ‘I’m alive. I’m fine,” I told her she needn’t worry, that was a lie of course, but I didn’t want to upset her.’
Becker also revealed how he was inundated with letters from fans and friends, including one from arch-rival and tennis partner Micheal Stich.
The two won doubles gold at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and he said: ‘It was a real surprise when I received your letter. I just didn’t expect that. It gave me strength, it was true sportsmanship and we forgot about our rivalry. It was a very strong gesture of support, an emotional ace.’
For her 55th birthday last month, Becker revealed: ‘I have three cakes. I don’t know how it happened, they don’t even give me three cakes when I was free outside, let alone in prison. There were three chocolate cakes and I shared them with my fellow prisoners.
‘You stay close to your fellow prisoners, you share clothes, shoes, salt, chocolate. I think I’ll stay connected to some of my inmates forever. When you have fought together for survival, that unites you. We needed each other.
Speaking of his children he said: ‘I am very proud of them. I talked to them as many times as I could and they came to visit me but not the little ones, I didn’t want a 12 year old to visit me. I don’t know if I could bear it, if he hugged me and the guard then took him away.
When asked how she felt when her partner visited, her voice cracked as she replied: “Those were the most pleasant two hours of the week, when she came in, but then when the door closed when she left…”
Taking a deep breath, she added: ‘I was never afraid that our love wouldn’t survive. We always face that, I don’t know how we do it but we try to talk at least once a day.
“We held hands over the phone and it was only through his love and strength that I survived.”