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Who is Boris Becker?

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Boris Becker is a child

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that he has a flame here.

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And he just tries to see if he's getting
burned or he's not getting burned.

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Or something like that.

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Will Boris Becker go to jail
or will there be...

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As you can see, this case has generated
considerable interest across Europe.

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A picture was painted in court

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of a man with nothing to show
for his glittering sporting career,

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a man with chaotic finances
whose reputation lies in tatters.

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The wait has been tough
from when the verdict was read out.

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I'm sentenced in two days. Very hard.

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I've hit my... my bottom.

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I don't know what to make of it.

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I'm-- I'll face it, you know?

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I'm not gonna hide or run away or--

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You know, accept whatever sentence I get.

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It's Wednesday afternoon.
On Friday, I know the rest of my life.

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{\an8}- Boris!
- Boris!

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{\an8}Boris, please look!

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{\an8}- Boris.
- Are you confident, Boris?

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Have you got a message for your fans?
Imagine you've got a lot on your mind?

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Have you got anything to say
before you go in?

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We'll see you in court.

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Becker registered this verdict with

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a bright red face,
but without any emotion as usual.

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He looked ahead, and I have the feeling...

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He will never be able to
earn real money and work...

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Boris Becker. Fortune squandered on
disastrous financial mismanagement.

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He has now been sentenced
to two and a half years in jail.

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If there's one place in the world
that I love, I call home, it's Wimbledon.

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I was told my opponent,

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Kevin Curren,

34
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always took the first seat.

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My coach told me, "You walk out first,
strong, and you take that first seat."

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He was the clear-cut favorite.
I thought, "He looked nervous."

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I felt that if I win the toss,
I'm gonna elect to serve

38
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because I wanted the first punch.

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I won my service game, and I broke him.

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<i>Well, there's no nerves
there at all from Boris Becker.</i>

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<i>Game and first set to Becker.</i>

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The momentum shifts.
Kevin starts to be in control.

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I just lose my line.

44
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But I returned and I break him back.

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<i>Game to Becker.</i>

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Emotionally, he's a little tough now.

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<i>So, set point.</i>

48
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<i>Game to Becker.</i>

49
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<i>Game to Becker.</i>

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In the fourth set, I break him
in the first game. I sit down,

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I'm thinking, "I only have to hold serve."

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I'm nervous.

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I'm trying to toss the ball.
The ball doesn't leave my hand.

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It's just glued. It's stuck.

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Double fault. The crowd, "Ooh!"

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<i>Love-15.</i>

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Go Boris.

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So, match point, I go within myself. I go...
"Please. Just, God,

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give me one more serve."

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"I need one more serve."

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<i>Boris Becker, let's start
with the basics. Are you bankrupt?</i>

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<i>How did someone
who had won all these championships,</i>

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<i>had such a successful life,
work himself into this situation?</i>

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<i>Three-time Wimbledon winner Boris Becker
has to answer to court in London today.</i>

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Morning.

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This is what they're playing for.

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Turn around.

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{\an8}This is the famous poem.
It's called "If" by Rudyard Kipling.

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This is where we wait
before we go out on Centre Court.

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We look up and we get a little nervous.

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You know, a lot of athletes, we
believe that the amount of money we earn

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during our careers will continue
to come in after.

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Yeah, I'm blaming me.

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- All right.
- Thank you.

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You know, the wake-up call came very late.

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I'm a big believer
that things happen for a reason.

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But what's the reason? What did I do?
What did I do to deserve this?

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And I-- you know, again, I'm not--

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I'm not a guy that cries on camera,

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and I'm not a complainer.

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I accept--
you know, accept whatever happens.

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But this is tough.

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This is really difficult to find out why.

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I know one day I will find out.
At the moment, I don't know why.

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<i>That's it! He's done it.</i>

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{\an8}<i>The Championship...</i>

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{\an8}<i>to Becker!</i>

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<i>And here he is. Congratulations, Champion.</i>

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<i>Thank you very much.</i>

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<i>What are you feeling right now?</i>

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It's like a dream, you know,
and, you know,

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now I think I have a lot of responsibility
for the game now

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because in my age
to win Wimbledon that is--

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I think it's something special.

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{\an8}Has a championship ever
been won on a man's knees before?

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{\an8}I don't know.

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<i>If somebody had told you two weeks ago</i>

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that you were gonna leave
this as Wimbledon Champion,

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what would you have said to 'em?

100
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He's an idiot.

101
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And there's been rejoicing in West Germany
over Becker's victory.

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{\an8}<i>The president sent him
a message of congratulations</i>

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{\an8}<i>as soon as the game was over.</i>

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{\an8}<i>And at Becker's hometown near Heidelberg,</i>

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{\an8}<i>relatives who couldn't come to Wimbledon
watched the final on television.</i>

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<i>Later, the great homecoming.</i>

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<i>And the narrow streets of Leimen
could hardly hold its townsfolk.</i>

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Would you welcome please, Boris Becker.

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- Congratulations.
- Thank you very much.

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- Boom Boom!
- It was--

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- That's not my name.
- Yeah, now right away,

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let's talk about that. I was gonna talk
about that later, but this just happened,

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- even on the cover of <i>Sports Illustrated</i>.
- Yeah.

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"Baby Boomer and Boom Boom Becker."

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When I was born, my mother called
me Boris and not Boom Boom, you know,

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and that's--

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that's what I don't like.

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Have you found that the young ladies--

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you meet more young ladies now
than maybe you did four, five months ago?

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After Wimbledon,
there were more girls than before.

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More girls? Yeah.

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{\an8}<i>The final score
of a tennis match can tell you a lot.</i>

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{\an8}<i>The loser is simply outclassed.</i>

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{\an8}<i>The winner wasn't himself
in the first two sets,</i>

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{\an8}<i>but hit his stride and cruised to victory.</i>

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{\an8}<i>The story behind the numbers
is how the points are won and why.</i>

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{\an8}<i>Not just shots made and volleys missed,
but how players change their minds.</i>

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{\an8}<i>When to play it safe
and when to go for broke.</i>

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{\an8}<i>Confidence ebbs, and then it flows. Why?</i>

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{\an8}<i>The fear of losing?
Or a kind of magical thinking?</i>

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{\an8}<i>How do great players trick themselves
into believing that they can win,</i>

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{\an8}<i>no matter how bad the odds?</i>

133
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<i>The score can't answer those questions.</i>

134
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<i>The score is just a headline.</i>

135
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<i>Is he up, or is he down?</i>

136
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<i>Is he a winner or a loser?</i>

137
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<i>For Becker, especially,
the headlines drowned out the real story.</i>

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<i>I talked to Becker
at two different periods.</i>

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<i>First in 2019
when his legal problems began...</i>

140
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Yeah.

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<i>...and then again in 2022,
three days before he went to prison.</i>

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<i>The later conversation kept circling
around the question of time.</i>

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<i>His countdown to an uncertain future,
and how his past haunted his present.</i>

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So, Boris, if you could speak to your--

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your younger self, what would you say?

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And it's interesting that you
ask me that because

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the other week my oldest son
came to me, to trial,

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and then he said, "In hindsight,

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Papa, what'd you learn?"

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I said, "Son, take care of your own shit."

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<i>What does the manager Ion Tiriac earn
from Boris Becker?</i>

152
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- Not enough. No.
- Not enough?

153
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{\an8}I was managed by a guy called Ion Tiriac.

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I was 15 in Monte Carlo
at a junior tournament.

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And the national head coach,
his name was Günther Bosch,

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{\an8}and he's from Romania, originally.

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{\an8}And Bosch and Tiriac
were childhood friends.

158
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{\an8}Günther told Ion, "We have this young
crazy German. Have a look at him."

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So I saw the guy.

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Interesting.

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A little bit chubby.

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Ion Tiriac always had
the big scary mustache.

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Now he was the coach of Guillermo Vilas,
and I was nervous.

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Vilas.

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With the talent that he had, zero.

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But the work that he got, enormous.

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Was the best player of all times,
considering what is coming, what is going.

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And Boris Becker, at that time,

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was doing what he had to do.

170
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I was invited for a practice week
with Guillermo Vilas in Hamburg.

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Vilas was the hardest worker in tennis.

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Tiriac wanted to see how much I can take.

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How did that go?

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I was hurting after a couple--

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He has all red clay all over
in the eyes here, there, bleeding here.

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Very interesting guy.

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He works like a mad dog
until almost he breaks his shoulder.

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Boris is a young man who
has a great deal of determination

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and I think that he was perhaps the
hardest worker in sports I'd ever seen.

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I loved it.
I loved to play. I loved to practice.

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And most of all, I loved to win.

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- I won my first tournament at six.
- At six?

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Six years old.

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I remember at six,
holding up the little trophy.

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I don't know, but, you know,
I'm sure it was very small.

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<i>Rainer Martinell against
Boris Becker, for first place.</i>

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- Game, set, match--
- Yeah!

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Think about it.
Borg was here seven years ago.

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I wish you'll have
the same kind of success.

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00:17:04,441 --> 00:17:05,610
Good luck!

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00:17:07,152 --> 00:17:08,655
Boris, come on.

192
00:17:08,655 --> 00:17:10,574
When you win something at six,

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and then something at seven and at eight,
and then you have a coach,

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00:17:13,493 --> 00:17:15,911
then you play more and more tennis.

195
00:17:18,707 --> 00:17:21,376
- How old are you all?
- Eleven.

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00:17:21,376 --> 00:17:24,754
Who is your favorite now
in these major tournaments?

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00:17:24,754 --> 00:17:26,506
Borg!

198
00:17:26,506 --> 00:17:28,550
- You like Borg the best?
- Yeah.

199
00:17:28,550 --> 00:17:31,720
My hero growing up was Björn Borg.

200
00:17:42,814 --> 00:17:45,567
I adored him. I loved him.
I wanted to be like him.

201
00:18:01,958 --> 00:18:03,752
I'll never give up.

202
00:18:04,336 --> 00:18:09,257
It doesn't matter what the score is,
the match is not over till the last point.

203
00:18:22,103 --> 00:18:25,941
{\an8}When you start to play tennis when you
are five years old, you want to win.

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00:18:25,941 --> 00:18:27,692
I mean, that's what you're practicing for.

205
00:18:27,692 --> 00:18:30,862
That's what you try to do
in your whole life.

206
00:18:30,862 --> 00:18:32,864
Watching Björn Borg, I said, you know,

207
00:18:32,864 --> 00:18:34,950
"I need to play a little bit identical."

208
00:18:34,950 --> 00:18:38,203
The only important tennis tournament
that was televised was Wimbledon.

209
00:18:39,204 --> 00:18:41,623
When he played the famous final in 1980,

210
00:18:42,207 --> 00:18:44,834
young Boris was sitting
in West Germany with my parents

211
00:18:45,335 --> 00:18:47,212
and watched on worldwide television.

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00:18:52,384 --> 00:18:53,802
{\an8}When you get to certain levels,

213
00:18:53,802 --> 00:18:57,931
{\an8}you know, you realize the game
becomes more mental. A battle of wills.

214
00:19:01,810 --> 00:19:03,270
<i>Yes, two sets all.</i>

215
00:19:05,188 --> 00:19:06,982
When I lost that tiebreaker
in the fourth set,

216
00:19:06,982 --> 00:19:11,069
I thought, "Definitely, I'm gonna lose
this match" because I was so drained.

217
00:19:12,279 --> 00:19:14,030
<i>Absolutely unbelievable.</i>

218
00:19:14,614 --> 00:19:16,575
<i>And what must Borg be thinking?</i>

219
00:19:16,575 --> 00:19:18,201
I mean, I thought I was gonna win this.

220
00:19:18,201 --> 00:19:20,829
He's-- Can't want it more than me now.

221
00:19:20,829 --> 00:19:22,289
<i>Championship point.</i>

222
00:19:22,789 --> 00:19:25,417
But he seemed to find another gear.

223
00:19:27,711 --> 00:19:28,879
{\an8}<i>The Champ!</i>

224
00:19:42,767 --> 00:19:44,895
I just was in awe of him winning.

225
00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,982
We would play our junior tournaments
imagining we were Björn Borg.

226
00:19:57,657 --> 00:20:00,243
I wasn't well-behaved
on the court back then.

227
00:20:00,827 --> 00:20:03,914
I would get angry.
And then, you know, break my rackets.

228
00:20:03,914 --> 00:20:07,709
So, my penalty was always,
after my three hours of practice,

229
00:20:07,709 --> 00:20:10,670
to play another hour with Steffi Graf.

230
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:18,845
{\an8}You know, the two best tennis players
Germany ever produced came literally

231
00:20:18,845 --> 00:20:20,513
{\an8}from ten miles apart.

232
00:20:22,307 --> 00:20:26,061
By 12, I was the best under 14.

233
00:20:33,151 --> 00:20:36,154
By 14 years of age, I started playing
with the men,

234
00:20:36,655 --> 00:20:42,369
and I became the German Indoor Champion
for the men when I was 14 years old.

235
00:20:46,414 --> 00:20:50,710
In those days, you had only really
three management companies

236
00:20:50,710 --> 00:20:52,420
in tennis that mattered.

237
00:20:52,420 --> 00:20:54,798
They all came to see my father.

238
00:20:54,798 --> 00:20:58,677
Mark McCormack offered money quickly,
so did Donald Dell,

239
00:20:58,677 --> 00:21:03,056
and my father felt disrespected
that he would sell his son for money,

240
00:21:03,056 --> 00:21:05,350
so he politely showed them the door.

241
00:21:06,351 --> 00:21:08,478
And Tiriac wasn't even talking
about money.

242
00:21:08,478 --> 00:21:13,275
He said, "You have a very talented boy.
I would like to take him over

243
00:21:13,275 --> 00:21:16,111
and I would look after him
as he were my son."

244
00:21:16,945 --> 00:21:18,572
I talk to his parents.

245
00:21:18,572 --> 00:21:21,241
Very simple people, normal people.

246
00:21:22,075 --> 00:21:25,370
Sweet people. They understood everything.
I made a deal.

247
00:21:26,121 --> 00:21:29,874
They stay home,
and if he's in the finals somewhere--

248
00:21:29,874 --> 00:21:35,755
Sometimes, I invite them to the final,
and so on. I don't like parents mixing up.

249
00:21:35,755 --> 00:21:37,424
My mother still, until today,

250
00:21:37,424 --> 00:21:40,010
says it was the biggest mistake
of her life

251
00:21:40,010 --> 00:21:43,513
to allow me
to take a leave of absence in school.

252
00:21:43,513 --> 00:21:47,642
But then, you know, my father decided,
"Let's give young Boris a chance."

253
00:21:47,642 --> 00:21:50,812
And that's when I became
a professional at 16 years of age.

254
00:21:59,738 --> 00:22:01,031
My game was power.

255
00:22:02,449 --> 00:22:07,746
It was always this hard shot
and how I was physically coming forward.

256
00:22:07,746 --> 00:22:09,080
It was always pretty hard.

257
00:22:14,711 --> 00:22:16,755
Strategy, it wasn't too complicated.

258
00:22:16,755 --> 00:22:19,299
You know, instinctively,
I knew it was power.

259
00:22:19,299 --> 00:22:21,259
It was overpowering the other guy.

260
00:22:21,259 --> 00:22:24,804
Eventually, you know,
you might get tired, I won't get tired.

261
00:22:31,478 --> 00:22:36,608
In the fall of 1984,
I was ranked maybe 100 in the world.

262
00:22:37,442 --> 00:22:39,444
I would lose in the first round
the whole time,

263
00:22:39,444 --> 00:22:41,613
you know, in September and October.

264
00:22:43,365 --> 00:22:45,283
I've lost six,
seven times in the first round,

265
00:22:45,283 --> 00:22:47,535
and if you're a tennis player,
that's a long stretch.

266
00:22:47,535 --> 00:22:50,455
You are low on confidence,
you are low on self-belief.

267
00:22:52,290 --> 00:22:55,252
And I'm breaking down, then.
And Tiriac was there.

268
00:22:57,671 --> 00:23:00,715
He started crying, you know.

269
00:23:01,675 --> 00:23:06,179
"I cannot make it.
I did this, and I do everything, but--"

270
00:23:06,179 --> 00:23:08,265
I say, "Boris, you're okay."

271
00:23:09,140 --> 00:23:11,017
Think about it. You're okay.

272
00:23:11,017 --> 00:23:14,729
I said, "Ion, I mean, I don't mind
traveling to the end of the world,

273
00:23:14,729 --> 00:23:16,356
but I gotta win sometimes."

274
00:23:16,356 --> 00:23:19,150
For me, the lifeline was always winning.

275
00:23:19,734 --> 00:23:22,821
And he said, "Boris, I can guarantee you

276
00:23:22,821 --> 00:23:26,241
that if you continue another
three months like that,

277
00:23:26,241 --> 00:23:28,868
you will be winning big things."

278
00:23:31,037 --> 00:23:32,539
The beginning of '85,

279
00:23:32,539 --> 00:23:35,500
I was winning matches
against the best players in the world.

280
00:23:36,918 --> 00:23:38,837
And my ranking went up into 30.

281
00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:41,298
I got to the Italian Open.

282
00:23:41,298 --> 00:23:44,259
I reached the semifinal,
and I became 20 in the world.

283
00:23:45,635 --> 00:23:48,054
If you're in the inner circle
of tennis, you would say,

284
00:23:48,054 --> 00:23:50,473
"This young German,
there's something coming up there."

285
00:23:50,473 --> 00:23:53,393
People were talking
about Boris Becker from Germany.

286
00:23:53,393 --> 00:23:55,687
"You should see this kid playing tennis."

287
00:23:55,687 --> 00:24:02,527
In February or March, I believe,
of 1985, we played an exhibition match.

288
00:24:02,527 --> 00:24:05,447
He was whining and complaining
about all the calls.

289
00:24:05,447 --> 00:24:06,865
- No!
- <i>Last warning.</i>

290
00:24:06,865 --> 00:24:09,701
And I won rather handily that match,

291
00:24:09,701 --> 00:24:12,120
so I went into the locker room, I go,

292
00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:15,498
"Hey, Boris, you know,
win something, you know,

293
00:24:15,498 --> 00:24:17,459
and then you can start complaining,
you know,

294
00:24:17,459 --> 00:24:21,046
but before you win, just--
let's cut this stuff out."

295
00:24:21,671 --> 00:24:24,132
Now,
little did I realize in my wildest dreams

296
00:24:24,132 --> 00:24:26,968
that four months later
he'd win Queen's and Wimbledon.

297
00:24:28,887 --> 00:24:32,641
Queen's was the premier grass
court tournament before Wimbledon.

298
00:24:32,641 --> 00:24:34,559
I played Johan Kriek in the final.

299
00:24:35,810 --> 00:24:38,772
{\an8}I'm in the finals,
and I'm playing a schoolboy from Germany.

300
00:24:38,772 --> 00:24:42,317
{\an8}I'm like, "What an easy title
this is gonna be."

301
00:24:46,529 --> 00:24:49,491
He just got confident.
He just started serving bombs.

302
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,410
{\an8}- Yes!
- <i>Game, set and match.</i>

303
00:24:54,204 --> 00:24:56,539
When he beat me in the finals,
I don't know who it was in the press,

304
00:24:56,539 --> 00:24:59,459
"Mr. Kriek, what do you think
about this German schoolboy?"

305
00:24:59,459 --> 00:25:01,753
I said, "If he serves like that,
he'll win Wimbledon."

306
00:25:02,921 --> 00:25:07,259
<i>And there you see the parents
of Becker going absolutely mad.</i>

307
00:25:08,051 --> 00:25:09,344
Congratulations!

308
00:25:12,472 --> 00:25:14,641
Congratulations. Hello.

309
00:25:14,641 --> 00:25:17,143
You've joined some pretty
famous names on this trophy.

310
00:25:17,143 --> 00:25:20,438
I mean, people like Laver, Hoad, Sedgman,
of course, McEnroe

311
00:25:20,438 --> 00:25:21,856
- and Connors, more recently.
- Yeah.

312
00:25:21,856 --> 00:25:25,819
That's right, I mean,
it's just a new name there.

313
00:25:25,819 --> 00:25:29,948
It's between Connors and McEnroe.
And it's unbelievable.

314
00:25:29,948 --> 00:25:32,450
- Seventeen years old.
- Yeah. That's right.

315
00:25:32,450 --> 00:25:34,869
- It's very early, isn't it?
- That's right, yeah.

316
00:25:36,246 --> 00:25:40,750
I felt a tsunami's happening.
I felt like this is a big wave. I'm on it.

317
00:25:41,251 --> 00:25:44,504
And I just--
I play normal, and I'm winning.

318
00:25:46,047 --> 00:25:48,717
In the week between Queen's and Wimbledon,

319
00:25:48,717 --> 00:25:51,386
they put you in a better practice court
so everybody could watch,

320
00:25:51,386 --> 00:25:56,016
and I felt that people started
staring at me, and I felt good about it.

321
00:25:56,516 --> 00:25:59,269
Put me on your show court,
I will show you how I can play.

322
00:26:03,315 --> 00:26:05,734
I mean, I wasn't thinking about winning.

323
00:26:05,734 --> 00:26:08,153
I was really enjoying the moment.

324
00:26:08,153 --> 00:26:11,072
I was like a little boy in a toy shop.

325
00:26:15,327 --> 00:26:20,040
I think he just took to
the grass in a different way.

326
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:22,000
{\an8}No one really knows how to play on grass.

327
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,670
{\an8}Anyone that says they're
a grass court specialist have to be living

328
00:26:25,670 --> 00:26:29,507
in the '60s and come from Australia.
Those guys were grass court specialists.

329
00:26:29,507 --> 00:26:32,093
But otherwise,
there are no grass courts in the world.

330
00:26:32,093 --> 00:26:34,221
But then, of course, the diving part.

331
00:26:34,221 --> 00:26:37,140
I mean, that's--
That was the most insane thing.

332
00:26:37,140 --> 00:26:39,768
On grass? Okay, maybe.

333
00:26:39,768 --> 00:26:41,228
But he used to dive on clay.

334
00:26:45,774 --> 00:26:47,901
For some of the balls, I had to dive.

335
00:26:48,485 --> 00:26:51,947
I think more than anything,
that impressed the other guy about

336
00:26:52,530 --> 00:26:54,699
what I was willing to do
to win that point.

337
00:26:55,367 --> 00:26:57,202
To go where it hurts a little bit.

338
00:26:58,828 --> 00:26:59,829
<i>Time.</i>

339
00:27:01,790 --> 00:27:04,459
Now, in 1985 at Wimbledon,

340
00:27:04,459 --> 00:27:08,129
the fourth round match with Tim Mayotte,
he's two sets to one up.

341
00:27:13,677 --> 00:27:15,679
I twist my ankle, badly.

342
00:27:16,263 --> 00:27:17,597
I'm done.

343
00:27:18,473 --> 00:27:20,267
- <i>Oh, dear.</i>
- <i>30-15.</i>

344
00:27:25,021 --> 00:27:27,190
Now, Tim was still on the baseline.

345
00:27:27,190 --> 00:27:31,236
If he would've been at the net,
he shakes my hand, the match is over.

346
00:27:31,236 --> 00:27:32,779
Wimbledon wouldn't happen.

347
00:27:34,489 --> 00:27:36,408
He was coming to default.

348
00:27:36,408 --> 00:27:39,119
And I say, "Bosch, yell at him."

349
00:27:39,703 --> 00:27:42,789
I see with my corner of my eye,
I see Bosch and Tiriac going like this.

350
00:27:42,789 --> 00:27:45,584
All of a sudden,
I wake up and I hear Tiriac,

351
00:27:46,126 --> 00:27:47,627
"Call a time-out! Call a time-out!"

352
00:27:47,627 --> 00:27:49,421
Can I have three minutes, please?

353
00:27:49,421 --> 00:27:51,089
No, it's just a twist.

354
00:27:51,089 --> 00:27:53,800
<i>He's taking his time-out here,</i>

355
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,469
<i>his injury break, which is three minutes.</i>

356
00:27:57,345 --> 00:28:01,391
The physical trainer had to come
from the locker room to court number 14.

357
00:28:01,892 --> 00:28:04,644
The luck was that he was not playing
on the Centre Court.

358
00:28:04,644 --> 00:28:08,356
By the time that the doctor came,
it was about 20 minutes.

359
00:28:08,356 --> 00:28:10,650
<i>Well, John, it certainly
took longer than three minutes</i>

360
00:28:10,650 --> 00:28:13,361
<i>for the trainer to get here,
but it's a good thing he is.</i>

361
00:28:14,279 --> 00:28:16,031
My ankle's black and blue,

362
00:28:16,031 --> 00:28:18,366
but it was good enough
to continue the match.

363
00:28:24,915 --> 00:28:29,252
Fifteen minutes later, it's just
different. Emotionally, he was a wreck.

364
00:28:34,674 --> 00:28:36,426
{\an8}Yeah, he hardly shook my hand.

365
00:28:36,426 --> 00:28:39,179
{\an8}He stormed off the court,
and I don't blame him.

366
00:28:40,805 --> 00:28:44,351
After that,
I had to restructure everything

367
00:28:44,351 --> 00:28:48,271
because instead of 30,
there were 130 journalists.

368
00:28:48,271 --> 00:28:51,399
And then, you know Mr. Ashe,
Mr. Arthur Ashe.

369
00:28:51,399 --> 00:28:52,359
All right.

370
00:28:52,359 --> 00:28:55,946
Boris, are you surprised to be
in the quarterfinals, 17 years old?

371
00:28:55,946 --> 00:28:57,614
Yes, for sure.

372
00:28:57,614 --> 00:28:59,032
And your ankle?

373
00:28:59,032 --> 00:29:02,452
Yeah, my ankle, it's not bad,
but it's also not good.

374
00:29:02,452 --> 00:29:05,622
Everybody talks about
the pressure for someone so young.

375
00:29:05,622 --> 00:29:08,458
You're not seeded, although there
are quite a few non-seeds around.

376
00:29:08,458 --> 00:29:09,376
Yeah.

377
00:29:09,376 --> 00:29:11,127
Can you handle the pressure?

378
00:29:11,795 --> 00:29:14,756
Yes, I think so. I'm trying to handle it.

379
00:29:17,133 --> 00:29:18,677
<i>Let's talk for a moment about Becker.</i>

380
00:29:18,677 --> 00:29:21,513
<i>Is he a flash in the pan, or is this kid
gonna be around for a while?</i>

381
00:29:21,513 --> 00:29:23,974
<i>And if he were to win,
he would be the youngest champion</i>

382
00:29:23,974 --> 00:29:27,435
<i>not only here, but of any of the four
major championships.</i>

383
00:29:28,270 --> 00:29:30,855
I don't think he's a flash.
I think he's the genuine item.

384
00:29:30,855 --> 00:29:35,652
How difficult is it for a young man
that age, he's 17 years old,

385
00:29:35,652 --> 00:29:37,320
to keep a grasp on reality?

386
00:29:39,364 --> 00:29:42,742
<i>There's no way a tennis player
can keep a grasp on reality.</i>

387
00:29:45,829 --> 00:29:47,747
<i>That's it! He's done it.</i>

388
00:29:48,665 --> 00:29:49,833
<i>The Championship...</i>

389
00:29:51,334 --> 00:29:52,502
<i>to Becker!</i>

390
00:29:57,591 --> 00:30:01,553
After Wimbledon, Tiriac takes me
to Monaco, where I was living at the time.

391
00:30:02,095 --> 00:30:04,222
He says, "No.
You're not gonna go back to your flat.

392
00:30:04,222 --> 00:30:06,558
We're gonna check into
the old beach hotel,

393
00:30:07,601 --> 00:30:10,604
and I will tell you what just happened."

394
00:30:12,022 --> 00:30:15,650
I say, "What do you mean?"
"I will tell you what you've just done.

395
00:30:16,234 --> 00:30:20,697
I will teach you the right and wrongs
of your life now."

396
00:30:20,697 --> 00:30:23,825
The implications of becoming

397
00:30:23,825 --> 00:30:26,912
the first German,
the youngest, the unseeded.

398
00:30:28,038 --> 00:30:31,750
Expectations in the tennis world,
expectations in Germany,

399
00:30:31,750 --> 00:30:33,835
expectations of world media.

400
00:30:33,835 --> 00:30:38,465
About you color combine brown shoes
with a brown belt,

401
00:30:38,465 --> 00:30:42,344
not a black belt or shirts, ties,
you know,

402
00:30:42,344 --> 00:30:46,139
the whole thing of becoming an image,

403
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:49,392
becoming a superstar in sports.

404
00:30:49,392 --> 00:30:53,313
He says, "Yeah, tennis is great,
but when you walk off the court,

405
00:30:53,313 --> 00:30:54,940
you are now a wanted man."

406
00:30:56,691 --> 00:30:58,193
I didn't do anything.

407
00:30:58,193 --> 00:30:59,277
The man had it.

408
00:30:59,861 --> 00:31:02,739
You know, the man had the charisma.
The man had everything.

409
00:31:02,739 --> 00:31:05,158
And he becomes a huge, huge megastar.

410
00:31:08,620 --> 00:31:11,498
Boris. Boris. Boris.

411
00:31:12,666 --> 00:31:14,542
What would you say if he came by here now?

412
00:31:15,377 --> 00:31:17,087
I'd like to play a match with you.

413
00:31:18,296 --> 00:31:23,969
We are proud of Boris Becker.
He has made Leimen huge.

414
00:31:23,969 --> 00:31:25,595
Leimen is becoming famous!

415
00:31:25,595 --> 00:31:27,973
And we are happy as kings.

416
00:31:28,557 --> 00:31:30,016
Well, I like Boris Becker.

417
00:31:31,059 --> 00:31:34,104
He's a good player,
and I like his attitude, and he's young.

418
00:31:34,938 --> 00:31:36,481
- He's German.
- Yep.

419
00:31:37,607 --> 00:31:41,945
<i>Move over, Michael Jackson and Madonna.
There's a new teenage idol.</i>

420
00:31:47,075 --> 00:31:49,703
<i>No one knew better how
to reap the benefits of fame</i>

421
00:31:49,703 --> 00:31:50,870
<i>than Ion Tiriac.</i>

422
00:31:52,372 --> 00:31:56,543
<i>Born in Transylvania, he escaped
a dead-end job in a ball bearing factory</i>

423
00:31:56,543 --> 00:32:00,338
<i>by becoming a professional athlete
in tennis and hockey.</i>

424
00:32:01,214 --> 00:32:03,800
<i>With the collapse of communism in Romania,</i>

425
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:06,386
<i>Tiriac bought state enterprises
on the cheap</i>

426
00:32:06,386 --> 00:32:07,721
<i>and became a billionaire.</i>

427
00:32:07,721 --> 00:32:10,807
<i>Famous for owning 500 vintage cars.</i>

428
00:32:11,641 --> 00:32:13,977
<i>As a manager, he used his business savvy</i>

429
00:32:13,977 --> 00:32:18,356
<i>to enrich young Boris Becker,
making him millions in endorsements.</i>

430
00:32:24,779 --> 00:32:26,823
{\an8}<i>Coca-Cola is it!</i>

431
00:32:29,159 --> 00:32:32,120
<i>Maybe they don't know my tennis gear
is made by Puma.</i>

432
00:32:34,748 --> 00:32:37,417
Ion Tiriac knew how to sell an image.

433
00:32:38,501 --> 00:32:41,671
He did the contracts.
He had the bank accounts.

434
00:32:41,671 --> 00:32:45,383
He controlled,
on a very professional good way, my life

435
00:32:45,383 --> 00:32:47,052
because there was no other way.

436
00:32:48,261 --> 00:32:50,680
I teach him not to have a credit card.

437
00:32:51,765 --> 00:32:53,892
Not to have money in his pocket.

438
00:32:53,892 --> 00:32:58,730
Because people around him
are going to profit from him.

439
00:32:58,730 --> 00:33:00,315
That was when he was very little.

440
00:33:00,315 --> 00:33:02,692
Seventeen is still a young man.

441
00:33:04,444 --> 00:33:08,949
I don't remember, in my playing days,
ever going to a cash machine.

442
00:33:08,949 --> 00:33:11,284
I don't remember, in my playing days,
ever really knowing

443
00:33:11,284 --> 00:33:13,203
how much money was actually
in the account.

444
00:33:14,287 --> 00:33:15,538
Enough? Plenty enough.

445
00:33:16,039 --> 00:33:17,958
What time is your airplane?

446
00:33:21,795 --> 00:33:24,756
You know, we athletes,
we didn't go to university.

447
00:33:24,756 --> 00:33:27,676
We didn't study law.
We didn't study business.

448
00:33:27,676 --> 00:33:29,511
You know, our business was the sport.

449
00:33:29,511 --> 00:33:33,974
So, by the time we get out of our sports
in our 30s, right,

450
00:33:34,849 --> 00:33:36,768
we don't know the hell what's going on.

451
00:33:37,644 --> 00:33:39,479
- Herr Becker.
- Herr Becker.

452
00:33:39,479 --> 00:33:40,564
Mr. Becker?

453
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:44,693
Mr. Becker, one word in English--

454
00:33:47,862 --> 00:33:50,782
<i>Former Wimbledon
Tennis Champion, Boris Becker,</i>

455
00:33:50,782 --> 00:33:54,661
<i>is facing more than three and a half years
in jail for tax evasion.</i>

456
00:33:55,453 --> 00:33:58,373
<i>Accused of failing
to pay millions of pounds in tax</i>

457
00:33:58,373 --> 00:33:59,708
<i>during the 1990s.</i>

458
00:34:00,500 --> 00:34:02,419
<i>To understand the Boris Becker story,</i>

459
00:34:02,419 --> 00:34:05,881
<i>it's sometimes easier
to move back and forth in time.</i>

460
00:34:06,673 --> 00:34:09,384
<i>Long before he was convicted
of crimes in London,</i>

461
00:34:09,384 --> 00:34:12,095
<i>he had a run-in with the law in Germany.</i>

462
00:34:13,054 --> 00:34:16,182
Because of the reportedly amounts
of money I earned,

463
00:34:16,182 --> 00:34:21,229
the Germans started to be
a little bit-- What's the word? Envious.

464
00:34:21,229 --> 00:34:24,356
"This young guy just can do what he
wants and makes a lot of money,

465
00:34:24,356 --> 00:34:28,153
and I'm sure there's something fishy
going on, right?"

466
00:34:28,153 --> 00:34:31,489
It's really disappointing
to small people like me

467
00:34:31,990 --> 00:34:35,367
when big fishes like Boris Becker
get away without anything.

468
00:34:35,367 --> 00:34:39,539
Well, he's in the show business also
and in the sports business,

469
00:34:39,539 --> 00:34:41,833
so he should be punished.

470
00:34:42,751 --> 00:34:46,546
They started prosecution for tax evasion.

471
00:34:47,130 --> 00:34:50,800
If the opponent is the government,
they're very powerful.

472
00:34:51,927 --> 00:34:55,889
<i>The government was fixated
on a time early in Boris's career</i>

473
00:34:55,889 --> 00:34:59,809
<i>when his manager, Ion Tiriac,
had advised Becker to live in Monaco,</i>

474
00:34:59,809 --> 00:35:03,772
<i>a famous tax haven where Boris could
keep his earnings away</i>

475
00:35:03,772 --> 00:35:04,940
<i>from the German government.</i>

476
00:35:06,274 --> 00:35:09,736
<i>By the time prosecutors started exploring
his finances,</i>

477
00:35:09,736 --> 00:35:14,908
<i>Becker had split from Tiriac, moved back
home and married a young German woman.</i>

478
00:35:15,492 --> 00:35:19,371
<i>They were on vacation in Miami
when the tax police came knocking.</i>

479
00:35:19,913 --> 00:35:23,959
I got an early morning call from my lawyer
saying the police,

480
00:35:24,501 --> 00:35:28,380
with the tax authorities, you know,
they want to break into your house.

481
00:35:29,005 --> 00:35:32,217
You know, and most importantly
they want to break into your safe.

482
00:35:32,217 --> 00:35:34,719
It was 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning
when I got the call,

483
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,305
and I got the code wrong the first time.

484
00:35:37,305 --> 00:35:40,642
You don't expect the government
to break into your house in Munich.

485
00:35:41,393 --> 00:35:44,145
{\an8}Everything became unsure after that,
you know.

486
00:35:44,145 --> 00:35:47,440
{\an8}I feel, how's that possible?

487
00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:50,193
{\an8}People just walking in doing this,
you know?

488
00:35:52,153 --> 00:35:54,155
Treating him like a criminal, you know?

489
00:35:54,155 --> 00:35:57,993
Like, it felt very painful for him,
especially because we weren't there.

490
00:35:57,993 --> 00:35:59,494
There's nothing we could do.

491
00:36:00,036 --> 00:36:03,540
And it came out of the blue.

492
00:36:03,540 --> 00:36:07,711
And we felt like it was, like,
a complete intrusion, invasion.

493
00:36:08,587 --> 00:36:13,091
I said, "There's jewelry
and there's many documents,

494
00:36:13,091 --> 00:36:17,220
but there are nude pictures
from my pregnant wife, yeah,

495
00:36:17,220 --> 00:36:19,347
just be aware of the pictures."

496
00:36:19,848 --> 00:36:23,226
They took everything, and the pictures
haven't been returned since.

497
00:36:23,226 --> 00:36:26,187
I mean, I remember him being
on the phone a lot,

498
00:36:26,187 --> 00:36:28,940
and not understanding.

499
00:36:28,940 --> 00:36:32,360
Completely confused and, yeah,
taken by surprise.

500
00:36:34,905 --> 00:36:35,864
And sad.

501
00:36:38,283 --> 00:36:42,329
Their claim was I had
a theoretical residence in Munich

502
00:36:42,329 --> 00:36:44,539
while I was officially residing in Monaco.

503
00:36:45,123 --> 00:36:47,167
<i>In the period of two years,</i>

504
00:36:47,167 --> 00:36:49,836
<i>Becker spent 72 days in Monaco,</i>

505
00:36:49,836 --> 00:36:55,300
<i>but spent 139 days in
the top floor apartment in Munich.</i>

506
00:36:56,676 --> 00:36:58,678
My sister, Sabine, had a flat,

507
00:36:58,678 --> 00:37:00,347
and she had a guest room,

508
00:37:00,347 --> 00:37:03,141
and when I was
in Munich to see my friends,

509
00:37:03,141 --> 00:37:06,436
instead of a hotel,
I went to the guest room of my sister.

510
00:37:06,436 --> 00:37:07,687
That was my crime.

511
00:37:07,687 --> 00:37:10,899
...that he maintained
a residence in Germany,

512
00:37:10,899 --> 00:37:15,528
and for this reason,

513
00:37:15,528 --> 00:37:18,657
precisely in order
to reduce taxes unlawfully,

514
00:37:18,657 --> 00:37:22,327
he concealed this fact in his tax returns.

515
00:37:22,327 --> 00:37:27,165
As I said, the defendant himself
admitted that he had acted intentionally.

516
00:37:29,167 --> 00:37:32,963
We went on trial,
and the prosecutor asked the judge

517
00:37:32,963 --> 00:37:35,549
for three years and nine months
behind bars.

518
00:37:36,299 --> 00:37:37,676
And you're fuming,

519
00:37:37,676 --> 00:37:41,263
you wanna get up and wanna at least
speak to the guy whether, you know,

520
00:37:41,263 --> 00:37:44,057
he's got all his marbles right
and so forth,

521
00:37:44,057 --> 00:37:45,267
but it was enough to shut up.

522
00:37:46,309 --> 00:37:47,894
I got two years of probation.

523
00:37:48,395 --> 00:37:51,231
I paid a fine of 250,000 marks,

524
00:37:51,231 --> 00:37:53,525
and the case was closed.

525
00:37:54,317 --> 00:37:57,320
<i>Boris Becker issued a prepared statement</i>

526
00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,489
<i>saying among other things,</i>

527
00:37:59,489 --> 00:38:02,909
<i>"This was my most important victory,
and I am free."</i>

528
00:38:04,119 --> 00:38:07,622
Now, imagine the German headlines.

529
00:38:12,377 --> 00:38:17,591
Whenever there is a bit of a wind
in my life, it becomes a tornado.

530
00:38:18,174 --> 00:38:22,971
The current chief editor of the most-read
daily newspaper in Germany

531
00:38:23,972 --> 00:38:25,515
gave me a wonderful explanation.

532
00:38:25,515 --> 00:38:30,604
There were three topics
that always work to sell his papers.

533
00:38:30,604 --> 00:38:31,730
One is Adolf Hitler,

534
00:38:33,064 --> 00:38:34,941
one is the unification of Germany,

535
00:38:35,692 --> 00:38:36,902
and one is Boris Becker.

536
00:38:39,946 --> 00:38:44,492
{\an8}And that's been the misunderstandings
I've had since 35 years.

537
00:38:53,376 --> 00:38:57,130
I told him,
"If you become a champion on court,

538
00:38:57,130 --> 00:38:58,757
you have to be one off the court.

539
00:38:59,341 --> 00:39:02,010
Don't make me beat the hell out of you.

540
00:39:02,010 --> 00:39:04,721
Because in front of everybody,
I will do it.

541
00:39:05,263 --> 00:39:07,974
Doesn't matter how much money
you are going to make

542
00:39:07,974 --> 00:39:10,852
because most of the money
I'm going to make

543
00:39:10,852 --> 00:39:12,854
for you, and that's happening."

544
00:39:13,730 --> 00:39:16,524
Big megastar makes 10%, 15%,

545
00:39:16,524 --> 00:39:18,318
20% on the court

546
00:39:18,985 --> 00:39:21,196
{\an8}and the rest, off the court.

547
00:39:23,698 --> 00:39:26,034
Tiriac had a whole new marketing campaign

548
00:39:26,034 --> 00:39:27,661
about his new superstar in sports,

549
00:39:27,661 --> 00:39:29,454
and I had great endorsements

550
00:39:29,454 --> 00:39:31,998
with the major companies
and corporations in the world,

551
00:39:31,998 --> 00:39:35,043
and part of that plan
was young Boris Becker winning.

552
00:39:35,710 --> 00:39:38,755
If he'd be-- wouldn't-- winning anymore
the whole story doesn't fit, right?

553
00:39:52,060 --> 00:39:54,354
How I say, "It goes with the package."

554
00:39:54,354 --> 00:39:56,398
The man can do it, or he don't.

555
00:39:56,898 --> 00:39:59,693
If you had want to have
a good number one out of Boris,

556
00:39:59,693 --> 00:40:02,612
you have to build him up
as a solid tennis player.

557
00:40:04,030 --> 00:40:08,285
I couldn't freaking get over
a quarterfinal list in,

558
00:40:08,285 --> 00:40:10,495
I think, five consecutive tournaments.

559
00:40:10,495 --> 00:40:13,081
It was quarterfinal here,
quarterfinal there, quarterfinal--

560
00:40:13,081 --> 00:40:15,333
Quarterfinal was good,
but it wasn't really good enough.

561
00:40:15,834 --> 00:40:18,336
And then we had a big crisis
before Wimbledon.

562
00:40:19,462 --> 00:40:21,298
Pressure coming.

563
00:40:21,298 --> 00:40:24,926
"Can Boris defend the title,
or was he flash in the pan?"

564
00:40:32,225 --> 00:40:33,894
<i>Game, set and match, Becker.</i>

565
00:40:34,519 --> 00:40:38,273
Win the quarterfinal in straight sets.
I win the semifinal.

566
00:40:38,273 --> 00:40:41,401
I started thinking, "This is good.

567
00:40:41,401 --> 00:40:43,570
This is-- I'm starting to feel the power."

568
00:40:44,070 --> 00:40:47,282
And everybody then went,
"This is it-- this is--

569
00:40:47,282 --> 00:40:48,950
He's feeling it again."

570
00:40:49,784 --> 00:40:52,078
So, in the final I'm playing Ivan Lendl.

571
00:40:52,787 --> 00:40:54,247
Lendl, number 1 in the world.

572
00:41:15,852 --> 00:41:17,520
<i>Yes. My goodness.</i>

573
00:41:24,569 --> 00:41:26,655
He had one of
the best forehands of all time

574
00:41:26,655 --> 00:41:28,949
and one of the biggest serves of all time.

575
00:41:28,949 --> 00:41:34,287
He played with very little emotion,
very computerlike.

576
00:41:36,915 --> 00:41:41,503
He wasn't charming with the crowd.

577
00:41:41,503 --> 00:41:43,338
He wasn't a showman.

578
00:41:43,838 --> 00:41:47,092
I call him the first professional
in tennis.

579
00:41:57,602 --> 00:41:58,645
<i>Game, Lendl.</i>

580
00:42:01,398 --> 00:42:02,816
Before Wimbledon,

581
00:42:03,942 --> 00:42:08,029
I had a long talk with Tiriac and Bosch.

582
00:42:12,534 --> 00:42:15,328
I've done now everything
you wanted me to do...

583
00:42:17,872 --> 00:42:22,085
so I'm asking you for once, "Can I play
the match the way I want to play?"

584
00:42:23,336 --> 00:42:25,881
I became a champion because of my power.

585
00:42:47,861 --> 00:42:49,279
<i>15-love.</i>

586
00:42:55,410 --> 00:42:56,286
<i>Game, Becker.</i>

587
00:43:07,297 --> 00:43:09,591
<i>Well, I don't really think
I've ever seen a player</i>

588
00:43:09,591 --> 00:43:11,218
<i>more determined than Becker is.</i>

589
00:43:28,109 --> 00:43:29,444
<i>Quiet, please.</i>

590
00:43:35,825 --> 00:43:38,161
- Yeah!
- <i>Game, set and match to Becker.</i>

591
00:43:42,624 --> 00:43:46,211
{\an8}That to me, was absolutely incredible
that you can have that pressure,

592
00:43:46,211 --> 00:43:47,629
and he wins it again.

593
00:43:48,922 --> 00:43:53,593
Winning Wimbledon twice before your
19th birthday, I mean, that's just insane.

594
00:43:55,345 --> 00:43:59,766
Probably my most important tournament win
was defending my Wimbledon title.

595
00:43:59,766 --> 00:44:02,269
Can call it "becoming a man," maybe.

596
00:44:02,269 --> 00:44:05,480
Becoming mature enough to understand
that I can trust my instincts.

597
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:07,774
I can trust my own strength.

598
00:44:09,276 --> 00:44:11,444
And I talked to my father then afterwards.

599
00:44:11,444 --> 00:44:18,493
I said, "Dad, don't you organize
another car ride in the middle of Leimen."

600
00:44:18,994 --> 00:44:19,828
But he did.

601
00:44:19,828 --> 00:44:23,164
And then we had a big fight over it.
I said, "I'm not gonna do it."

602
00:44:23,832 --> 00:44:25,292
Then, he said, "Son,

603
00:44:25,292 --> 00:44:29,129
then I can't go back to my hometown.
You embarrass me if you don't show up."

604
00:44:29,129 --> 00:44:32,215
I said,
"Dad, for the last time, it's my life.

605
00:44:32,215 --> 00:44:34,259
It's my win. It's my decision.

606
00:44:34,843 --> 00:44:36,970
I do it because I love and respect you,

607
00:44:36,970 --> 00:44:39,848
but it's the last time
you make a decision for me."

608
00:44:48,273 --> 00:44:52,944
When you are so young, and you thrown into
the big ocean with all the sharks around,

609
00:44:52,944 --> 00:44:55,030
it's very difficult to learn to swim.

610
00:44:56,072 --> 00:44:57,866
But once you learn to swim,

611
00:44:57,866 --> 00:45:02,329
it's the feeling of invincibility
that means you're winning.

612
00:45:07,042 --> 00:45:10,879
In the fall, I did something that nobody
has done before and after.

613
00:45:18,970 --> 00:45:24,142
I won three Master Series in consecutive
weeks in three different continents.

614
00:45:24,851 --> 00:45:26,686
Don't ask me how I slept, though.

615
00:45:28,688 --> 00:45:29,564
'Cause I didn't.

616
00:45:31,441 --> 00:45:34,736
Back to back to back,
I won almost every tournament.

617
00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:37,489
I was in the zone. Just couldn't touch me.

618
00:45:43,578 --> 00:45:47,707
For many Germans, does an
underage professional tennis player

619
00:45:47,707 --> 00:45:50,210
embody what may have been
lost in reality?

620
00:45:50,210 --> 00:45:53,338
A fighting spirit, will to perform,
unlimited self-confidence?

621
00:45:54,506 --> 00:45:58,802
{\an8}In a way, yes. We are a battered people,

622
00:45:58,802 --> 00:46:02,430
and we are happy, rightly so,

623
00:46:02,430 --> 00:46:08,103
about anyone who succeeds
in achieving international success.

624
00:46:08,103 --> 00:46:10,355
He was the first German

625
00:46:10,855 --> 00:46:12,065
that after the war--

626
00:46:12,065 --> 00:46:14,568
He was the young Siegfried.

627
00:46:25,287 --> 00:46:28,164
He was a young man
that could handle himself.

628
00:46:28,164 --> 00:46:32,085
And the man had the presence
that a megastar needs.

629
00:46:32,085 --> 00:46:35,463
And the people took him like this.

630
00:46:46,975 --> 00:46:49,811
<i>Boris Becker saw
one of his dearest wishes fulfilled.</i>

631
00:46:49,811 --> 00:46:51,605
<i>He met the Pope at the Vatican.</i>

632
00:46:52,230 --> 00:46:53,773
<i>The two-time Wimbledon champion</i>

633
00:46:53,773 --> 00:46:57,235
<i>even brought a tennis racket
for John Paul II.</i>

634
00:46:57,235 --> 00:46:59,321
<i>The Pope plays tennis.
He is a great sportsman.</i>

635
00:46:59,321 --> 00:47:01,781
<i>He also practices swimming.</i>

636
00:47:01,781 --> 00:47:05,035
<i>And it was John Paul II
who had already invited Boris Becker</i>

637
00:47:05,035 --> 00:47:07,120
<i>a few months ago to come and visit him.</i>

638
00:47:07,120 --> 00:47:12,292
Recall that he has won three tournaments
on three continents,

639
00:47:12,292 --> 00:47:15,212
on three different surfaces, alone!

640
00:47:15,212 --> 00:47:16,880
Thanks for being with us, Boris Becker.

641
00:47:16,880 --> 00:47:18,965
Your opinion on a few players?

642
00:47:18,965 --> 00:47:20,592
McEnroe is going to come back?

643
00:47:21,426 --> 00:47:24,804
In the three tournaments
that just ended, he was there.

644
00:47:24,804 --> 00:47:28,016
Well, of course, it's going to be
a long road for him,

645
00:47:28,016 --> 00:47:30,310
but I think he has
the possibility of actually returning.

646
00:47:30,310 --> 00:47:32,812
Did you play McEnroe after his comeback?

647
00:47:32,812 --> 00:47:38,068
Yeah, I played John McEnroe
in Stratton Mountain in Vermont.

648
00:47:42,697 --> 00:47:43,782
Fault!

649
00:47:49,162 --> 00:47:51,998
<i>McEnroe cracking
the backhand into the net.</i>

650
00:47:51,998 --> 00:47:53,208
What was wrong?

651
00:47:58,296 --> 00:48:00,423
Early in the year, I took time off.

652
00:48:00,423 --> 00:48:03,385
I was very wound up
when I went to Stratton Mountain

653
00:48:03,385 --> 00:48:06,846
because I felt like I needed
to go out and prove something.

654
00:48:06,846 --> 00:48:09,432
And he was just coming back
after a sabbatical,

655
00:48:09,432 --> 00:48:12,310
and he's gonna teach
this young German a lesson.

656
00:48:12,310 --> 00:48:14,354
So I was ready to, you know,

657
00:48:14,354 --> 00:48:18,900
really let it out, like, in a way--
Not that I had trouble doing that,

658
00:48:18,900 --> 00:48:21,945
but more so than normal.

659
00:48:28,952 --> 00:48:29,828
Out!

660
00:48:30,787 --> 00:48:32,414
John holds serve, 1-love.

661
00:48:32,414 --> 00:48:33,498
<i>Mac is back.</i>

662
00:48:35,375 --> 00:48:38,545
Those days we didn't have microphones
on the court yet,

663
00:48:38,545 --> 00:48:42,591
so you couldn't really listen
to what players had to say.

664
00:48:42,591 --> 00:48:44,718
So, you know,
I was gonna go intimidate him

665
00:48:44,718 --> 00:48:46,011
and, you know, sort of--

666
00:48:47,053 --> 00:48:49,681
Tennis's version of trash talking
a little bit.

667
00:48:49,681 --> 00:48:51,516
<i>At the first changeover, Cliff,</i>

668
00:48:51,516 --> 00:48:55,437
<i>McEnroe had a word
with Becker about respect.</i>

669
00:48:55,437 --> 00:48:57,856
<i>And we don't quite know what it was.
We didn't hear all of it.</i>

670
00:48:57,856 --> 00:49:02,652
He says, "Boris, I'm gonna beat
the shit out of you, you motherfucker."

671
00:49:04,529 --> 00:49:06,323
Imagine somebody doing that now.

672
00:49:06,823 --> 00:49:08,158
He'd be fined on the spot.

673
00:49:08,158 --> 00:49:11,453
I was shocked. I was intimidated.
What do I do?

674
00:49:11,453 --> 00:49:15,206
I learned a new set of English
in those two and a half hours.

675
00:49:15,206 --> 00:49:18,168
Words I've never heard before,
and I seldom use.

676
00:49:18,168 --> 00:49:21,004
He said on the first changeover,
you gave it to him.

677
00:49:21,004 --> 00:49:23,423
I gave it to him,
but apparently it didn't work too well.

678
00:49:29,387 --> 00:49:31,389
He ends up winning the first set, 6-3.

679
00:49:32,515 --> 00:49:33,934
It became a battle.

680
00:49:33,934 --> 00:49:36,519
<i>Yes, I think we did miss
John McEnroe a little bit.</i>

681
00:49:36,519 --> 00:49:40,148
I've never seen a guy
with more feel for the ball,

682
00:49:40,148 --> 00:49:44,945
so he could find angles,
and he could find ball placement

683
00:49:44,945 --> 00:49:47,739
that you can't practice,
or you can't teach anybody.

684
00:49:49,032 --> 00:49:50,742
He had a very awkward technique

685
00:49:50,742 --> 00:49:53,995
that made him so awkward to play against,
because nobody played like that.

686
00:49:55,580 --> 00:49:58,375
He was just full out, and I responded.

687
00:49:58,917 --> 00:50:00,502
I don't walk away from a fight.

688
00:50:01,044 --> 00:50:02,295
I loved the way he played.

689
00:50:02,295 --> 00:50:05,924
He was diving all around the court,
and just-- He was fun to watch.

690
00:50:05,924 --> 00:50:11,221
He was like a-- The exuberance of a kid,
but he had a grown man's body.

691
00:50:13,265 --> 00:50:14,391
And then I'm thinking,

692
00:50:14,391 --> 00:50:18,103
"This guy has got the biggest serve
in the history of tennis."

693
00:50:19,396 --> 00:50:21,106
I won the second set,

694
00:50:21,106 --> 00:50:25,443
{\an8}and then we end up third set tiebreaker,
he has four match points.

695
00:50:26,236 --> 00:50:27,696
{\an8}<i>8-7 McEnroe.</i>

696
00:51:00,979 --> 00:51:03,106
What else do you remember
about that match?

697
00:51:03,106 --> 00:51:05,400
I remember getting cheated on match point.

698
00:51:13,408 --> 00:51:15,076
- Out!
- Oh, no!

699
00:51:19,164 --> 00:51:21,875
I had a few match points,
the first of which,

700
00:51:21,875 --> 00:51:23,919
right as I'm about to hit it-- "Out!"

701
00:51:24,836 --> 00:51:25,837
What?

702
00:51:27,047 --> 00:51:29,257
I guess my karma caught up with me
on that one.

703
00:51:29,257 --> 00:51:31,384
Not too many had cost me,
but that one, it did.

704
00:51:31,384 --> 00:51:33,511
And then it sent me in a total tailspin.

705
00:51:33,511 --> 00:51:34,930
<i>Difficult situation.</i>

706
00:51:34,930 --> 00:51:36,014
How do you know?

707
00:51:41,478 --> 00:51:44,856
{\an8}<i>A young and rising genius
named Boris Becker, winning.</i>

708
00:51:46,650 --> 00:51:49,027
You know, John, I think felt,

709
00:51:49,027 --> 00:51:52,489
"This son of a bitch on the other side
is as strong-willed as I am.

710
00:51:52,489 --> 00:51:55,033
He doesn't take no for an answer."

711
00:51:55,033 --> 00:51:58,578
And he pretty much,
from that moment on, respected me.

712
00:52:00,288 --> 00:52:02,165
<i>Sprechen Sie English?</i>

713
00:52:04,876 --> 00:52:08,588
The game was changing.
It was becoming more of a power game.

714
00:52:08,588 --> 00:52:12,217
He just basically, like,
served me off the court in a way.

715
00:52:17,430 --> 00:52:21,601
{\an8}We played five hours
and we were only done with three sets.

716
00:52:21,601 --> 00:52:23,395
And Boris seemed like he was fine.

717
00:52:25,939 --> 00:52:27,440
<i>This day is over.</i>

718
00:52:36,449 --> 00:52:40,370
My record against him was about as poor
as any top player I've ever played.

719
00:52:40,370 --> 00:52:44,374
And I wish that I had played him
when I was at my best.

720
00:52:44,374 --> 00:52:46,251
I'm sure he would've won some anyway,

721
00:52:46,251 --> 00:52:48,628
but I would've liked to think
I would've done better.

722
00:52:50,380 --> 00:52:53,884
{\an8}I had a great and unique ability
of getting under the players' skin,

723
00:52:53,884 --> 00:52:56,344
{\an8}and then the players would
try harder than they ever tried.

724
00:52:56,344 --> 00:52:59,639
You know, I'm like, "Why didn't you just
shut up and let 'em self-destruct?"

725
00:53:00,140 --> 00:53:01,516
I couldn't help myself.

726
00:53:01,516 --> 00:53:04,269
I decided once
when I played Boris in Paris, you know,

727
00:53:04,269 --> 00:53:06,479
'cause he had this fake cough
that he always did

728
00:53:07,272 --> 00:53:09,107
and he pretended like it wasn't fake.

729
00:53:09,107 --> 00:53:10,358
And, like, he'd go...

730
00:53:11,610 --> 00:53:13,570
You know, but it'd be, like,
break point down.

731
00:53:13,570 --> 00:53:16,615
You're like, "Come on, Boris.
You're better than that."

732
00:53:17,449 --> 00:53:21,119
He felt that you were coughing a lot
for effect, and not so much for--

733
00:53:22,621 --> 00:53:23,622
Yeah.

734
00:53:32,214 --> 00:53:36,176
I'd had enough of it, so I decided
every time he did it, I was gonna do it.

735
00:53:36,176 --> 00:53:41,181
So when he's mimicking my coughing,
I probably coughed even more.

736
00:53:41,181 --> 00:53:43,225
Hence we had a proper match, right?

737
00:53:54,903 --> 00:53:56,655
A little bit of quiet please, thank you.

738
00:53:56,655 --> 00:53:58,615
Sometimes to put pressure on, he coughs.

739
00:54:03,828 --> 00:54:05,247
Out!

740
00:54:05,247 --> 00:54:06,581
0-15.

741
00:54:09,209 --> 00:54:12,546
After about literally ten times,
people are like, "Ooh." You know?

742
00:54:12,546 --> 00:54:14,130
They don't know
what to make of this, right?

743
00:54:14,130 --> 00:54:19,594
And I'm enjoying it because I'm calling
him out for this BS he's doing.

744
00:54:22,639 --> 00:54:24,474
There it is, "The Cough."

745
00:54:24,474 --> 00:54:27,352
So finally Boris, he goes,
"John, I mean, come on.

746
00:54:27,352 --> 00:54:28,603
Take it easy on me.

747
00:54:29,354 --> 00:54:30,772
I've got a cold."

748
00:54:30,772 --> 00:54:32,816
And I go, "You've had it for five years."

749
00:54:33,608 --> 00:54:36,152
I can't believe
that it still isn't better.

750
00:54:37,112 --> 00:54:38,572
Only 4 years.

751
00:54:38,572 --> 00:54:42,242
It's difficult to think
that he's not doing this on purpose.

752
00:54:42,242 --> 00:54:46,871
The crowd turned on me
like I was, like, Attila the Hun.

753
00:54:46,871 --> 00:54:50,041
I'm like, "Why are they turning on me?
He's the guy that's doing this shit."

754
00:54:50,041 --> 00:54:52,460
And you still think after what's happened
that that's right?

755
00:54:53,461 --> 00:54:57,465
Tennis is played on a big stage
and spectators are very, very important.

756
00:54:57,465 --> 00:55:00,427
They give us the energy
or they take away the energy,

757
00:55:00,427 --> 00:55:03,305
you play for the crowd
or you play against the crowd.

758
00:55:06,099 --> 00:55:07,517
He raises his fist.

759
00:55:07,517 --> 00:55:09,269
{\an8}He raises his arm in victory,
Boris Becker!

760
00:55:09,269 --> 00:55:10,478
{\an8}He raises his finger!

761
00:55:10,478 --> 00:55:12,397
He has won, he was the better one...

762
00:55:12,397 --> 00:55:15,817
{\an8}At the end, I'm like,
"Hey, Boris, man, I just--

763
00:55:15,817 --> 00:55:16,902
Sorry about whatever."

764
00:55:17,485 --> 00:55:19,237
{\an8}Thankfully, to his credit,

765
00:55:19,237 --> 00:55:21,948
{\an8}"It's the heat of the moment,
you know, we're friends."

766
00:55:22,449 --> 00:55:23,867
{\an8}It's like, "Thank you, man."

767
00:55:24,910 --> 00:55:27,162
I think I won that match, by the way.

768
00:55:27,162 --> 00:55:29,331
So there goes the story.

769
00:55:29,331 --> 00:55:31,625
So Lendl number 1,

770
00:55:31,625 --> 00:55:33,543
Becker number 2.

771
00:55:34,211 --> 00:55:36,963
Will it be "Becker number 1" next year?

772
00:55:39,466 --> 00:55:40,884
Ooh la la, huh?

773
00:55:40,884 --> 00:55:42,636
Difficult. Ooh la la.

774
00:55:48,725 --> 00:55:49,601
{\an8}<i>Game, Becker.</i>

775
00:55:49,601 --> 00:55:51,645
{\an8}<i>No trouble there for Boris Becker.</i>

776
00:55:51,645 --> 00:55:54,189
<i>Günther Bosch in the tracksuit.</i>

777
00:55:54,981 --> 00:55:59,152
<i>Code violation.
Coaching, Mr. Becker. Warning.</i>

778
00:55:59,152 --> 00:56:00,487
<i>Very interesting.</i>

779
00:56:01,529 --> 00:56:05,116
First of all, you cannot even see
where my coach is.

780
00:56:05,116 --> 00:56:07,118
I know where your coach is, Mr. Becker.

781
00:56:07,619 --> 00:56:10,205
But I know you want me
out of the tournament.

782
00:56:10,205 --> 00:56:12,082
- No.
- I'm not gonna get out.

783
00:56:12,666 --> 00:56:16,253
<i>Boris Becker
having a little altercation there.</i>

784
00:56:20,173 --> 00:56:21,633
Out! Hit the line.

785
00:56:21,633 --> 00:56:23,260
<i>Correction. The ball is good.</i>

786
00:56:23,260 --> 00:56:25,679
- <i>Now listen to the--
- 4-2 Masur.</i>

787
00:56:25,679 --> 00:56:27,973
<i>Definitely, the ball was good.</i>

788
00:56:27,973 --> 00:56:29,849
<i>Boris throwing a tantrum.</i>

789
00:56:31,685 --> 00:56:34,020
<i>Now he's totally destroyed that racket.</i>

790
00:56:35,230 --> 00:56:36,648
- Shut up!
- <i>Quiet, please.</i>

791
00:56:37,941 --> 00:56:39,234
<i>Quiet, please. Thank you.</i>

792
00:56:44,698 --> 00:56:47,659
<i>Just two days after
being bundled out of the Australian Open,</i>

793
00:56:47,659 --> 00:56:51,079
<i>19-year-old Becker is now
without the guidance of Günther Bosch.</i>

794
00:56:51,079 --> 00:56:54,124
<i>Becker told Bosch he no longer
wanted constant advice.</i>

795
00:56:54,749 --> 00:56:56,543
What's going on with Günther Bosch

796
00:56:56,543 --> 00:56:58,670
ten days after the separation
from Boris Becker?

797
00:56:59,296 --> 00:57:01,673
Not much better than ten days ago.

798
00:57:01,673 --> 00:57:05,427
I have to honestly admit that I haven't
worked through this whole thing yet

799
00:57:05,427 --> 00:57:12,058
and I believe it'll take some time
until I'm over all of this.

800
00:57:12,767 --> 00:57:13,894
<i>Becker was tight-lipped</i>

801
00:57:13,894 --> 00:57:15,186
<i>when he and his girlfriend, Benny,</i>

802
00:57:15,186 --> 00:57:17,022
<i>left Melbourne for Brisbane this morning.</i>

803
00:57:17,022 --> 00:57:18,732
Somehow, I'm gonna survive.

804
00:57:21,026 --> 00:57:24,154
I really didn't have a coach
because I didn't wanna have a coach.

805
00:57:24,654 --> 00:57:27,365
Nobody's gonna tell me how to practice
and what to do.

806
00:57:27,365 --> 00:57:30,118
And, in those days,
maybe I needed somebody.

807
00:57:32,829 --> 00:57:35,415
Wimbledon that year, I was top seeded.

808
00:57:35,415 --> 00:57:39,336
I was supposed to be the next Borg,
win it five times and all that.

809
00:57:46,343 --> 00:57:47,219
No!

810
00:57:47,969 --> 00:57:50,138
That's out. Come on!

811
00:57:56,144 --> 00:57:58,563
{\an8}I lost, and everybody
looking at-- the world stopped.

812
00:57:58,563 --> 00:58:00,148
"What happened? Oh, God."

813
00:58:00,148 --> 00:58:01,775
What do you think happened?

814
00:58:01,775 --> 00:58:04,069
Well, basically, I lost a tennis match,
you know?

815
00:58:04,069 --> 00:58:07,155
I didn't lose a war, nobody died.
I lost a tennis match.

816
00:58:12,035 --> 00:58:13,745
I was questioning maybe everything.

817
00:58:13,745 --> 00:58:16,498
The so-called pressures
and responsibilities.

818
00:58:16,498 --> 00:58:18,833
I was looking around a little bit,
I was searching.

819
00:58:20,293 --> 00:58:22,921
I thought there must be more to life
than tennis.

820
00:58:22,921 --> 00:58:26,424
I was stuck. I was-- I said,
"I can't get out of it."

821
00:58:26,424 --> 00:58:28,176
{\an8}The tabloids are always great to read.

822
00:58:28,176 --> 00:58:31,221
Here it's "Bonked! Dames spell doom."

823
00:58:31,221 --> 00:58:32,847
<i>Boris Becker has found an excuse</i>

824
00:58:32,847 --> 00:58:34,724
for why he hasn't won
any tennis matches for a while.

825
00:58:34,724 --> 00:58:37,310
He says it's 'cause
he's been doing too much bonking.

826
00:58:37,310 --> 00:58:39,688
Well, frankly-- Come on.
"Well, why aren't you winning?"

827
00:58:39,688 --> 00:58:41,565
"Well, I'm getting too much of that,
ain't I?"

828
00:59:12,345 --> 00:59:14,222
<i>Yes, game, Gilbert. Gilbert.</i>

829
00:59:17,601 --> 00:59:18,977
{\an8}You know, when you're playing somebody

830
00:59:18,977 --> 00:59:22,272
{\an8}you're always trying to figure out
what you can do.

831
00:59:23,356 --> 00:59:26,526
{\an8}And the way I played, I always thought
about my opponents.

832
00:59:27,193 --> 00:59:28,194
Playing Boris.

833
00:59:28,194 --> 00:59:31,031
By then,
he was already a massive superstar.

834
00:59:32,407 --> 00:59:35,911
I gotta run everything down,
I gotta be doggedly determined.

835
00:59:37,412 --> 00:59:40,415
Maybe if I could make a ton of balls,
I could frustrate him.

836
00:59:40,415 --> 00:59:42,208
You know, there was an opportunity.

837
00:59:46,546 --> 00:59:49,007
<i>Game and fourth set, Gilbert 7-5.</i>

838
00:59:49,007 --> 00:59:52,761
When I did break back,
Boris would start yelling at himself...

839
00:59:53,511 --> 00:59:55,138
and all these different things.

840
00:59:56,223 --> 00:59:59,059
I did enjoy seeing him get frustrated.

841
01:00:08,151 --> 01:00:11,780
<i>Even more forlorn has been a face
in the German television commentary box.</i>

842
01:00:11,780 --> 01:00:16,076
It looks like Boris will
have a lot of trouble today...

843
01:00:16,076 --> 01:00:17,244
<i>Günther Bosch,</i>

844
01:00:17,244 --> 01:00:20,747
{\an8}<i>who until the start of the year
was Boris Becker's coach.</i>

845
01:00:26,962 --> 01:00:28,338
<i>It's his own fault.</i>

846
01:00:29,548 --> 01:00:33,593
<i>Yeah, this curse was for the airplane...</i>

847
01:00:33,593 --> 01:00:35,345
<i>The airplane just thundered by
over our heads.</i>

848
01:00:35,345 --> 01:00:37,013
<i>Becker was forced to take a break.</i>

849
01:00:37,013 --> 01:00:38,640
<i>It took too long.</i>

850
01:00:40,308 --> 01:00:41,142
<i>He has to serve there.</i>

851
01:00:41,142 --> 01:00:44,312
<i>He has to serve,
otherwise he gets out of rhythm.</i>

852
01:00:45,272 --> 01:00:48,191
<i>This break is far too long.</i>

853
01:00:54,114 --> 01:00:55,115
<i>Unbelievable.</i>

854
01:00:55,824 --> 01:00:57,200
Everybody go through a phase

855
01:00:57,200 --> 01:01:00,036
where they feel pressure
for the right or the wrong reasons.

856
01:01:00,036 --> 01:01:02,539
{\an8}I was stuck between
a rock and a hard place,

857
01:01:02,539 --> 01:01:04,207
{\an8}that's why I felt the pressure.

858
01:01:05,458 --> 01:01:06,793
{\an8}I was simply tired.

859
01:01:08,086 --> 01:01:11,882
{\an8}I had very tough matches the whole week,
it was more a struggle.

860
01:01:11,882 --> 01:01:16,928
And, so-- After a while,
it's going to go in your bones.

861
01:01:24,144 --> 01:01:27,272
In '87, I couldn't cope
with the pressures anymore

862
01:01:27,272 --> 01:01:30,734
of performing and winning
and I couldn't sleep anymore.

863
01:01:30,734 --> 01:01:33,862
I was jet-lagged and I just--
My mind just wouldn't stop.

864
01:01:35,196 --> 01:01:37,657
I had two long years,
I was a bit exhausted.

865
01:01:38,199 --> 01:01:40,035
I spoke to the German team doctor,

866
01:01:40,535 --> 01:01:42,954
he said, "Well,
there's this very soft sleeping pill,

867
01:01:42,954 --> 01:01:44,414
you can take it easily and it's--

868
01:01:44,414 --> 01:01:47,292
You know, you wake up after six hours
and you're perfectly fine."

869
01:01:48,209 --> 01:01:52,005
Well, it's very addictive.
And it's very strong.

870
01:01:52,672 --> 01:01:55,008
And you don't wake up
after five, six hours fresh.

871
01:01:55,008 --> 01:01:56,176
You feel like you're in a haze.

872
01:01:57,510 --> 01:02:01,264
And it made me sleep to a point where
I just couldn't sleep without it.

873
01:02:13,151 --> 01:02:15,362
After tournament,
then I would not take it.

874
01:02:15,862 --> 01:02:17,572
But if you're addicted
to strong sleeping pills,

875
01:02:17,572 --> 01:02:20,283
you can't sleep without them anyway.

876
01:02:20,283 --> 01:02:21,701
I'd be wide awake at night.

877
01:02:22,202 --> 01:02:25,372
I was talking to somebody,
I would go out, I have a drink.

878
01:02:25,372 --> 01:02:28,500
I was just not living the lifestyle
of a pro athlete.

879
01:02:30,210 --> 01:02:33,213
I kept pretending to play
and pretending everything was fine.

880
01:02:34,422 --> 01:02:37,342
I didn't know then how can I change it.

881
01:02:50,855 --> 01:02:54,609
<i>It should be said, that the circumstances
at Hamburg's Rothenbaum were not normal.</i>

882
01:02:54,609 --> 01:02:55,819
<i>In the overflowing arena,</i>

883
01:02:55,819 --> 01:02:59,406
<i>many people couldn't find a spot
even though they had valid tickets.</i>

884
01:02:59,406 --> 01:03:02,576
<i>The growing restlessness
was felt on center court,</i>

885
01:03:02,576 --> 01:03:06,413
<i>where Boris Becker was outdone, at times,
by every trick in the book.</i>

886
01:03:08,832 --> 01:03:11,626
<i>If you try to blame
the court or the audience...</i>

887
01:03:11,626 --> 01:03:13,587
you just have to admit
that he didn't play well.

888
01:03:13,587 --> 01:03:15,088
And he doesn't want to recognize that.

889
01:03:15,088 --> 01:03:18,800
I haven't played a tournament in Germany
since Wimbledon '85.

890
01:03:18,800 --> 01:03:21,845
I didn't know I had so many fans!

891
01:03:22,429 --> 01:03:24,472
<i>I just wanted to be treated
like all the other players.</i>

892
01:03:24,472 --> 01:03:27,601
In Germany, that's not possible for me

893
01:03:27,601 --> 01:03:30,270
because for other people,
I am probably something special.

894
01:03:32,188 --> 01:03:34,024
With Boris and Steffi Graf,

895
01:03:34,024 --> 01:03:37,193
tennis became extremely important
at that time in Germany.

896
01:03:37,193 --> 01:03:39,237
You know, it was, like, exploding then.

897
01:03:40,155 --> 01:03:42,198
The attention was just unbelievable.

898
01:03:42,198 --> 01:03:44,492
You know, he was like Michael Jordan
in Germany.

899
01:03:44,492 --> 01:03:47,120
You know, you could say I was a big star
in the States,

900
01:03:47,120 --> 01:03:50,332
but I was never, like,
when it's all-encompassing.

901
01:03:51,041 --> 01:03:52,334
He had to deal with that.

902
01:03:59,716 --> 01:04:01,635
You're staying for the 14 days, is it?

903
01:04:01,635 --> 01:04:04,471
No, more. It's about a month.

904
01:04:04,471 --> 01:04:06,181
- About a month? Okay.
- Yeah.

905
01:04:06,806 --> 01:04:08,433
You mind if I ask you for an autograph?

906
01:04:08,433 --> 01:04:09,643
Yeah, sure.

907
01:04:10,185 --> 01:04:11,561
To Vel. V.

908
01:04:12,562 --> 01:04:13,939
- V?
- V-E-L.

909
01:04:21,279 --> 01:04:24,366
They were very proud of Boris
in the beginning in Germany.

910
01:04:24,366 --> 01:04:26,451
He was big hero,

911
01:04:26,451 --> 01:04:29,746
{\an8}but he went through-- I think it was
more like jealousy problems.

912
01:04:29,746 --> 01:04:31,456
{\an8}The same way I had in Sweden.

913
01:04:41,466 --> 01:04:42,801
No problems.

914
01:04:42,801 --> 01:04:44,678
- Everything is...
- Not yet.

915
01:04:44,678 --> 01:04:46,555
...under control.

916
01:04:47,639 --> 01:04:49,724
If you don't work out as a tennis player,

917
01:04:49,724 --> 01:04:52,018
you know,
you could become a male model, huh?

918
01:04:54,437 --> 01:04:56,273
Why aren't you playing tennis?

919
01:04:56,273 --> 01:04:57,649
That's a good question.

920
01:04:58,525 --> 01:05:00,944
<i>Some girls,
they write unbelievable letters--</i>

921
01:05:00,944 --> 01:05:02,445
- <i>To Björn?</i>
- <i>Yeah.</i>

922
01:05:02,445 --> 01:05:05,365
{\an8}<i>And I open them
because he has no time to do that.</i>

923
01:05:05,365 --> 01:05:06,741
Well, I don't have enough time.

924
01:05:06,741 --> 01:05:09,703
She doesn't let me open the letters.
That's the problem.

925
01:05:09,703 --> 01:05:12,163
<i>What sort of things
were they saying in those letters?</i>

926
01:05:12,163 --> 01:05:15,166
<i>"I want to meet you."
And they give the telephone numbers,</i>

927
01:05:15,166 --> 01:05:18,587
they send pictures all the time
and that's small things.

928
01:05:18,587 --> 01:05:21,756
There are other things too
but I cannot mention them.

929
01:05:21,756 --> 01:05:22,716
Really?

930
01:05:24,676 --> 01:05:27,387
- Good, good, good.
- Right.

931
01:05:27,888 --> 01:05:32,767
They take you to a level
that you reach as an athlete.

932
01:05:32,767 --> 01:05:35,228
And maybe when you reach that level,

933
01:05:35,228 --> 01:05:38,356
maybe they want to take you down
a little bit.

934
01:05:38,940 --> 01:05:41,192
That's exactly what happened in Germany
with Boris.

935
01:05:41,735 --> 01:05:46,072
He is an icon in his home country.
He's always been, he's always gonna be.

936
01:05:53,455 --> 01:05:56,791
{\an8}To compare Boris to anyone, you can't.

937
01:05:56,791 --> 01:06:02,005
{\an8}Because Boris is the first German
tennis player that had done anything big.

938
01:06:02,005 --> 01:06:03,173
And we had Björn Borg.

939
01:06:03,840 --> 01:06:06,676
And Björn Borg had already--
he cleared a path in Sweden.

940
01:06:07,636 --> 01:06:09,304
We had the same hairstyle even
for a while.

941
01:06:09,304 --> 01:06:11,389
I was even wearing a headband
until my brother said,

942
01:06:11,389 --> 01:06:13,975
"What are you wearing a headband for?"
I'm like, "I don't know."

943
01:06:14,559 --> 01:06:17,270
But Boris, he literally couldn't go out.

944
01:06:19,564 --> 01:06:22,943
I think that the pressure is enormous,
being a German superstar.

945
01:06:24,819 --> 01:06:27,239
I felt like I had obligations
with the tournament

946
01:06:27,239 --> 01:06:29,908
and the sponsorship in Germany
and God knows what.

947
01:06:29,908 --> 01:06:33,662
So I felt trapped
and I wasn't man enough maybe to say,

948
01:06:33,662 --> 01:06:35,914
"Listen, stop. I'm taking a break."

949
01:06:39,334 --> 01:06:41,795
I wasn't fulfilled in my private life.

950
01:06:41,795 --> 01:06:44,923
I was with the wrong friends,
maybe with the wrong girlfriend.

951
01:06:44,923 --> 01:06:48,426
The-- You know, the wrong surroundings
that weren't fulfilling me

952
01:06:48,426 --> 01:06:50,679
and giving me the answers
that I was looking for,

953
01:06:51,429 --> 01:06:53,682
as a young man growing up in Europe.

954
01:06:55,308 --> 01:06:59,187
What did I do? I changed scenarios.

955
01:06:59,729 --> 01:07:03,441
I appointed a new coach that I picked,
not Tiriac or Bosch.

956
01:07:03,441 --> 01:07:05,569
It was an Australian called Bob Brett.

957
01:07:07,237 --> 01:07:10,240
{\an8}Ion told me at that time
that I was not his choice.

958
01:07:10,240 --> 01:07:11,866
{\an8}That was fine with me.

959
01:07:12,701 --> 01:07:14,119
Boris was his own man.

960
01:07:14,828 --> 01:07:18,039
Ion said, "Don't take him.
I don't think he's good for you."

961
01:07:19,165 --> 01:07:22,085
And the more he said that,
the more I wanted Bob.

962
01:07:23,587 --> 01:07:24,963
Another classical Boris.

963
01:07:24,963 --> 01:07:27,799
It was a point to prove again to Tiriac

964
01:07:27,799 --> 01:07:30,635
about my point of view
and his point of view.

965
01:07:33,054 --> 01:07:35,348
Yes, he was still my mentor,
he was still the main guy,

966
01:07:35,348 --> 01:07:37,225
but I felt like
I had to take a different route

967
01:07:37,726 --> 01:07:40,186
to get to the promised land, no?

968
01:07:54,034 --> 01:07:56,620
{\an8}<i>Championship point to Boris Becker.</i>

969
01:07:59,956 --> 01:08:01,625
{\an8}To qualify for the Masters,

970
01:08:01,625 --> 01:08:04,169
{\an8}be amongst the top eight players
of the world.

971
01:08:04,169 --> 01:08:06,838
{\an8}In '85, I reached the final.
I lost to Lendl.

972
01:08:06,838 --> 01:08:09,466
In '86, who did I lose to? Lendl.

973
01:08:09,466 --> 01:08:11,760
Guess who I'm playing in the final again?

974
01:08:12,344 --> 01:08:14,221
Tie-break fifth set, back and forth.

975
01:08:14,221 --> 01:08:15,931
He didn't wanna lose, I didn't wanna lose.

976
01:08:15,931 --> 01:08:17,014
I have match point.

977
01:08:17,641 --> 01:08:22,478
We have the longest rally
ever in a match point situation.

978
01:08:22,478 --> 01:08:24,022
If I win, then I'll win the match.

979
01:09:06,522 --> 01:09:07,857
I hit the net cord...

980
01:09:19,744 --> 01:09:20,870
and it bounced.

981
01:09:20,870 --> 01:09:22,998
We both didn't see on which side.

982
01:09:23,581 --> 01:09:25,083
We had to listen to the umpire.

983
01:09:25,083 --> 01:09:28,169
{\an8}When he said, "Game, set, match,"
somebody with a German flag came over

984
01:09:28,169 --> 01:09:29,420
{\an8}and ran around a little bit.

985
01:09:36,636 --> 01:09:38,388
Then I went from strength to strength.

986
01:09:39,013 --> 01:09:41,016
I won the US Open, I beat Ivan.

987
01:09:49,024 --> 01:09:51,234
{\an8}I spent less and less time in Europe.

988
01:09:51,776 --> 01:09:55,739
Started to spend more time
in America and in Australia

989
01:09:55,739 --> 01:09:59,242
and just away
from maybe being Boris Becker.

990
01:10:04,205 --> 01:10:07,334
I really liked Bob
and what he brought to the table

991
01:10:07,334 --> 01:10:08,418
and how he practiced.

992
01:10:08,418 --> 01:10:11,379
And I started enjoying tennis again

993
01:10:11,379 --> 01:10:13,924
because it wasn't the only thing
I did during the day.

994
01:10:21,056 --> 01:10:24,309
It's not enough for me
to play tennis for three hours a day

995
01:10:24,309 --> 01:10:25,727
and then go to bed.

996
01:10:25,727 --> 01:10:27,687
For me, that would be horrible.

997
01:10:28,605 --> 01:10:34,527
Therefore, I have to do other things
that stimulate my mind,

998
01:10:34,527 --> 01:10:36,363
inspire me.

999
01:10:47,749 --> 01:10:52,045
Mr. Bosch, you've known Boris
for a decade, maybe even longer.

1000
01:10:52,671 --> 01:10:53,964
A bit longer, yes.

1001
01:10:53,964 --> 01:10:59,261
In retrospect, what do you think
are his biggest strengths and weaknesses?

1002
01:11:00,053 --> 01:11:03,682
I wrote about this in my book.

1003
01:11:03,682 --> 01:11:08,895
During the tournaments, it's not Becker
against Edberg or Becker against Lendl.

1004
01:11:08,895 --> 01:11:10,855
Often it's Becker against Becker.

1005
01:11:11,690 --> 01:11:14,985
And if he's able to tackle this Becker,

1006
01:11:14,985 --> 01:11:17,696
this internal opponent,
he will win the game.

1007
01:11:19,489 --> 01:11:21,074
It's just too much, you know?

1008
01:11:37,173 --> 01:11:39,593
Stefan Edberg was my toughest opponent.

1009
01:11:40,468 --> 01:11:43,054
One of the finest serve-and-volley players
of all time.

1010
01:11:47,267 --> 01:11:49,394
I compared him to Baryshnikov.

1011
01:11:49,978 --> 01:11:53,440
He was floating on the court
like Baryshnikov on stage.

1012
01:12:02,198 --> 01:12:05,076
He was light on his feet and flying
and never off-balance

1013
01:12:05,076 --> 01:12:06,828
and always in the right position.

1014
01:12:11,333 --> 01:12:13,960
I play against Edberg
and I know exactly where I stand.

1015
01:12:13,960 --> 01:12:18,548
If I win against him 6-4, 6-4,
I know I'm in top shape

1016
01:12:18,548 --> 01:12:23,053
or when he kicks my butt
I know I have to train a lot more.

1017
01:12:31,019 --> 01:12:32,562
{\an8}'88. Edberg.

1018
01:12:33,063 --> 01:12:35,649
On Wimbledon Centre Court,
which I consider my home.

1019
01:12:39,945 --> 01:12:42,405
<i>Edberg really came back quite beautifully.</i>

1020
01:12:42,405 --> 01:12:45,700
<i>He was being dominated by Becker,
but he held on.</i>

1021
01:12:46,952 --> 01:12:49,996
When they went head-to-head,
as a Swede, who were you rooting for?

1022
01:12:49,996 --> 01:12:51,289
Were you rooting for--

1023
01:12:51,289 --> 01:12:54,000
I have to root for Stefan, of course.

1024
01:12:56,127 --> 01:12:57,629
<i>Championship point.</i>

1025
01:12:59,005 --> 01:13:01,007
Wimbledon, they played three times.

1026
01:13:01,007 --> 01:13:03,301
The rivalry, it's great for tennis.

1027
01:13:09,683 --> 01:13:12,102
{\an8}<i>Game, set, match, Edberg.</i>

1028
01:13:14,271 --> 01:13:16,481
{\an8}<i>Becker wanting once more to put his hand</i>

1029
01:13:16,481 --> 01:13:19,025
<i>on the most famous trophy in tennis.</i>

1030
01:13:23,822 --> 01:13:27,659
You have to learn
to accept defeat and that you were wrong.

1031
01:13:28,201 --> 01:13:32,747
{\an8}That losing is part of the game as well,
and that's the tough part.

1032
01:13:33,832 --> 01:13:35,959
{\an8}Because the very next match,
you have to go on board

1033
01:13:35,959 --> 01:13:37,836
- as if you're gonna win.
- Yes.

1034
01:13:51,558 --> 01:13:54,853
My opponent in the back of my mind
is always Edberg.

1035
01:14:10,035 --> 01:14:12,746
<i>Stefan Edberg
must be wondering what's hit him.</i>

1036
01:14:13,455 --> 01:14:16,333
<i>So championship point to Boris Becker.</i>

1037
01:14:21,213 --> 01:14:24,382
{\an8}<i>Game, set, match. Becker.</i>

1038
01:14:24,382 --> 01:14:27,719
<i>And a truly magnificent
performance from Boris Becker,</i>

1039
01:14:27,719 --> 01:14:29,930
<i>who has just hurled his racket
into the crowd.</i>

1040
01:14:29,930 --> 01:14:31,848
<i>I've never seen anyone do that before.</i>

1041
01:15:06,675 --> 01:15:09,511
You see the electricity a little bit, huh?
You get the vibe, yeah.

1042
01:15:09,511 --> 01:15:10,679
Yeah.

1043
01:15:10,679 --> 01:15:12,973
And that's what young players
are intimidated from.

1044
01:15:13,473 --> 01:15:16,434
They can't deal with this. Can't hide.

1045
01:15:17,519 --> 01:15:18,520
Can't hide.

1046
01:15:19,813 --> 01:15:21,231
You go through your ups and downs

1047
01:15:21,231 --> 01:15:23,316
and lose a bit of motivation,
bit of hunger.

1048
01:15:23,316 --> 01:15:26,027
And you just wanna do different things
than always playing tennis,

1049
01:15:26,027 --> 01:15:28,446
so for him to come back last year--

1050
01:15:28,446 --> 01:15:31,157
Novak's physically fit,
I think he's mentally sane.

1051
01:15:31,157 --> 01:15:33,535
And why wouldn't he?
It's the best thing in the world.

1052
01:15:33,535 --> 01:15:35,829
I would've accepted it,
to be able to do that.

1053
01:15:35,829 --> 01:15:37,080
Same thing happened with me.

1054
01:15:37,664 --> 01:15:39,833
Okay, Boris and Mac, thank you very much.

1055
01:15:39,833 --> 01:15:41,501
And Roger Federer will be on court...

1056
01:15:42,252 --> 01:15:45,422
I always was intrigued
by the media, by journalism.

1057
01:15:45,422 --> 01:15:48,967
But I had to start at back of the queue
and just work my way up

1058
01:15:48,967 --> 01:15:52,053
to a position in front of the camera
and talking about tennis.

1059
01:15:53,054 --> 01:15:56,016
Up to the point where they let me
co-host a Wimbledon final.

1060
01:15:57,309 --> 01:15:59,269
<i>Becoming a forehand contest.</i>

1061
01:16:00,020 --> 01:16:01,187
<i>Who hits it harder?</i>

1062
01:16:01,855 --> 01:16:03,773
Federer's gonna run around the backhand

1063
01:16:03,773 --> 01:16:05,525
and just smothers the forehand.

1064
01:16:07,360 --> 01:16:08,361
<i>Welcome to the</i> Daily Serve.

1065
01:16:08,361 --> 01:16:11,531
Adam Peacock alongside
Boris Becker and Kim Clijsters.

1066
01:16:12,365 --> 01:16:14,075
They must have liked what they saw.

1067
01:16:14,075 --> 01:16:17,662
Losing is part of winning,
it's part of playing tennis, and...

1068
01:16:18,204 --> 01:16:20,248
I mean, if there's one thing
I really know, it's tennis.

1069
01:16:21,207 --> 01:16:25,128
<i>Boris's success as a commentator
was about more than tennis savvy.</i>

1070
01:16:25,754 --> 01:16:28,882
<i>He's a good storyteller. One of
the reasons he was interesting to me.</i>

1071
01:16:30,258 --> 01:16:33,136
<i>He sees players as if
they're characters in movies.</i>

1072
01:16:33,762 --> 01:16:37,057
<i>His commentary can be so funny,
charming and seductive,</i>

1073
01:16:37,766 --> 01:16:41,228
<i>I sometimes wonder
if it's too much fun to be true.</i>

1074
01:16:41,770 --> 01:16:44,606
So there's two, then you skip two,
and there's one more.

1075
01:16:45,106 --> 01:16:48,109
Final, final, final, final.

1076
01:16:52,322 --> 01:16:55,242
Stefan beat Boris, Boris beat Stefan.

1077
01:16:55,951 --> 01:16:58,954
And then they played the third time,
there was the five-set match.

1078
01:16:58,954 --> 01:17:00,121
Really great match.

1079
01:17:02,249 --> 01:17:03,250
Peter.

1080
01:17:04,125 --> 01:17:05,377
- Forty seconds.
- Yeah.

1081
01:17:06,795 --> 01:17:10,632
In '90, I was still
very much hooked on sleeping pills.

1082
01:17:10,632 --> 01:17:11,883
Before the Wimbledon final,

1083
01:17:11,883 --> 01:17:15,887
I took my last sleeping pill
at five o'clock in the morning.

1084
01:17:17,556 --> 01:17:18,598
Mistake.

1085
01:17:20,976 --> 01:17:24,479
The practice was at 11:00,
the match was at 2:00.

1086
01:17:25,355 --> 01:17:29,859
I woke up out of a dazed sleep
at 11:30 in the morning.

1087
01:17:32,821 --> 01:17:36,616
I had something quick to eat,
and I rushed to the club.

1088
01:17:40,078 --> 01:17:41,162
"Can I hit a little bit?"

1089
01:17:41,162 --> 01:17:43,456
So I hit a little bit at 12:30,
one o'clock.

1090
01:17:50,213 --> 01:17:51,089
I start the match.

1091
01:17:57,888 --> 01:18:00,765
I was so slow,
everything I do, the ball passes me.

1092
01:18:00,765 --> 01:18:02,100
I don't know what I'm doing.

1093
01:18:03,018 --> 01:18:05,687
I lose the first set, the second set.

1094
01:18:07,439 --> 01:18:09,858
I must have sweat enough,
I must have woken up.

1095
01:18:41,473 --> 01:18:42,766
Big comeback.

1096
01:18:42,766 --> 01:18:45,352
I am up 4-1 in the fifth set.

1097
01:18:47,395 --> 01:18:48,563
I get nervous.

1098
01:18:55,904 --> 01:18:56,905
<i>Game, Edberg.</i>

1099
01:19:01,159 --> 01:19:03,620
Body language
is how you walk on court, you know.

1100
01:19:03,620 --> 01:19:05,163
If your shoulders are up straight,

1101
01:19:05,163 --> 01:19:08,792
if you're just a little bit
leaning forward, whatever you do.

1102
01:19:08,792 --> 01:19:13,630
What you might not realize yourself,
but your opponent sees it. He senses it.

1103
01:19:14,339 --> 01:19:19,094
And that short moment just takes enough
out of you, out of your confidence,

1104
01:19:19,094 --> 01:19:23,306
out of your belief, that it just
gives the other player an edge.

1105
01:19:24,683 --> 01:19:28,144
You can't even describe it
or write it down, what happens.

1106
01:19:28,144 --> 01:19:31,856
It's just such a short fraction
of a thought

1107
01:19:31,856 --> 01:19:35,902
that just can turn a match
one way or the other.

1108
01:19:47,414 --> 01:19:49,583
{\an8}<i>Game, set, match, Edberg.</i>

1109
01:19:54,713 --> 01:19:56,756
He ends up winning 6-4.

1110
01:19:59,092 --> 01:20:02,929
I said, "You stupid idiot. You know,
you could have beaten him earlier.

1111
01:20:02,929 --> 01:20:06,808
And you gotta stop the sleeping pills,
it's not gonna get you anywhere."

1112
01:20:07,934 --> 01:20:11,021
So that was a match
that thankfully I lost.

1113
01:20:12,522 --> 01:20:17,110
I remember soon after I had my last
package and I threw it out of the window.

1114
01:20:17,903 --> 01:20:20,155
And I said, "<i>no más</i>," this is...

1115
01:20:20,155 --> 01:20:21,448
<i>This is odd.</i>

1116
01:20:21,948 --> 01:20:26,494
<i>Boris said he threw out his sleeping pills
right after losing to Edberg in 1990,</i>

1117
01:20:27,412 --> 01:20:28,622
<i>but in his book,</i>

1118
01:20:28,622 --> 01:20:33,043
<i>he wrote that his wife tossed the last
packets out a full two years later.</i>

1119
01:20:33,960 --> 01:20:36,421
<i>Was this just a simple case
of misremembering?</i>

1120
01:20:37,881 --> 01:20:40,634
I never had any experiences with drugs.

1121
01:20:41,176 --> 01:20:43,845
So I thought it was the devil.

1122
01:20:43,845 --> 01:20:45,889
I didn't even understand
why he would take them.

1123
01:20:45,889 --> 01:20:50,393
I just knew he didn't want to take them,
and he said it didn't do him good,

1124
01:20:50,393 --> 01:20:52,062
so I just flushed 'em down the toilet.

1125
01:20:54,481 --> 01:20:57,234
Yeah. I don't know.
Does he tell the story differently?

1126
01:20:57,234 --> 01:21:01,404
Look, there's a phenomenon
when you've been part of my life,

1127
01:21:01,404 --> 01:21:03,448
and she's certainly been a big part,

1128
01:21:03,448 --> 01:21:05,700
and some of-- other friends
have been a big part,

1129
01:21:05,700 --> 01:21:09,829
that you make up your own mind
what happened

1130
01:21:10,455 --> 01:21:11,790
with certain things.

1131
01:21:11,790 --> 01:21:13,750
And you're convinced that's true.

1132
01:21:13,750 --> 01:21:18,505
Now, since I was the one
needing sleeping pills,

1133
01:21:19,005 --> 01:21:22,801
I pretty much know when I took some
and when I didn't take any.

1134
01:21:23,301 --> 01:21:25,762
You know, 'cause usually
you're alone when you do that.

1135
01:21:28,098 --> 01:21:30,767
<i>When we're alone,
we all tell ourselves stories.</i>

1136
01:21:31,643 --> 01:21:34,938
<i>We remember things,
not always the way they were,</i>

1137
01:21:34,938 --> 01:21:36,690
<i>but the way we want them to be.</i>

1138
01:21:37,899 --> 01:21:40,902
<i>If Boris tells me the way it was
with sleeping pills,</i>

1139
01:21:40,902 --> 01:21:42,362
<i>who am I to question him?</i>

1140
01:21:43,613 --> 01:21:46,575
<i>Still, I have to wonder
why his stories change.</i>

1141
01:21:47,409 --> 01:21:50,704
<i>Is there a difference between
the way he tells stories to others,</i>

1142
01:21:51,580 --> 01:21:54,958
<i>and the ones he feels
he needs to tell himself as a player</i>

1143
01:21:54,958 --> 01:21:56,710
<i>in order to reach the top?</i>

1144
01:21:57,335 --> 01:21:59,796
There are people who think that sometimes

1145
01:21:59,796 --> 01:22:05,260
you like to create certain situations
in games.

1146
01:22:05,260 --> 01:22:10,640
For example, maybe you bring it to
a fifth set or bring it to a tiebreak.

1147
01:22:11,266 --> 01:22:14,477
Are you trying to artificially create
adrenaline rushes in those situations?

1148
01:22:14,477 --> 01:22:17,272
Well, sometimes not so directly,

1149
01:22:17,272 --> 01:22:21,651
but deep down I know
that I can beat the opponent.

1150
01:22:21,651 --> 01:22:23,486
It doesn't matter if my legs hurt.

1151
01:22:23,987 --> 01:22:27,908
In doing so, I also test my psyche.
I see how strong I am.

1152
01:22:27,908 --> 01:22:31,953
So if I know that I can
beat my opponent 6-2, 6-2,

1153
01:22:31,953 --> 01:22:34,998
then I get a bit lazy sometimes,
I have to admit.

1154
01:22:35,707 --> 01:22:38,627
And then when it gets close,
I have to come on strong.

1155
01:22:39,753 --> 01:22:41,630
That's good and bad.

1156
01:22:42,464 --> 01:22:47,135
I lose strength, physical strength. I win...

1157
01:22:47,969 --> 01:22:49,846
Yeah, but I win mental strength.

1158
01:23:01,608 --> 01:23:02,567
What?

1159
01:23:04,653 --> 01:23:06,071
What did you say?

1160
01:23:08,573 --> 01:23:10,367
I always had trouble
with the Australian Open,

1161
01:23:10,367 --> 01:23:13,078
because it was always played
in the middle of January.

1162
01:23:13,078 --> 01:23:14,579
Australia is very hot.

1163
01:23:15,080 --> 01:23:18,375
So it takes me a long time
to get adjusted with the weather,

1164
01:23:18,375 --> 01:23:19,960
but also with the time change.

1165
01:23:20,460 --> 01:23:23,672
Bob Brett said,
"Boris, why don't we go before Christmas,

1166
01:23:24,256 --> 01:23:28,385
first play a tournament in Adelaide,
and really get adjusted to the weather.

1167
01:23:28,927 --> 01:23:30,136
It's bloody hot."

1168
01:23:31,763 --> 01:23:33,598
Yes, it's a bit sad actually

1169
01:23:33,598 --> 01:23:37,894
because I've got to go back to
all that snow and ice again tomorrow.

1170
01:23:38,395 --> 01:23:41,940
It's much nicer down here in the warm,
I'm here to tell you.

1171
01:23:47,946 --> 01:23:51,241
Christmas Eve,
we were in a restaurant. I was miserable.

1172
01:23:51,241 --> 01:23:52,576
I was missing my family.

1173
01:23:52,576 --> 01:23:57,038
<i>I wish you a merry Christmas
I wish you a merry Christmas</i>

1174
01:23:57,038 --> 01:23:59,165
<i>And a happy new year</i>

1175
01:24:16,600 --> 01:24:17,475
{\an8}Out!

1176
01:24:20,604 --> 01:24:24,316
{\an8}The first small tournament
in Australia was against Magnus Larsson,

1177
01:24:24,316 --> 01:24:27,819
ranked maybe 100 in the world.

1178
01:24:29,154 --> 01:24:30,405
{\an8}I lose the first set.

1179
01:24:32,282 --> 01:24:35,911
Sometimes yeah, I only do
what is necessary in the moment.

1180
01:24:38,204 --> 01:24:42,542
Secretly, I know,
even if I lose in the first set

1181
01:24:42,542 --> 01:24:44,127
and the second and the third--
I'll get him.

1182
01:24:44,920 --> 01:24:48,506
That's how I'm testing my psyche.

1183
01:24:59,184 --> 01:25:01,394
{\an8}<i>...6-4, 3-6, 7-6.</i>

1184
01:25:02,437 --> 01:25:05,565
I lost it. Lost in the first round,
even though I was top seeded.

1185
01:25:20,747 --> 01:25:22,457
How can you explain

1186
01:25:22,457 --> 01:25:25,335
the fact that someone like you lost
against such a guy?

1187
01:25:27,379 --> 01:25:33,677
My mind wasn't fully present.

1188
01:25:34,302 --> 01:25:38,640
That's really what it was.
I still had trouble with my...

1189
01:25:40,559 --> 01:25:43,687
...with my mind such that...

1190
01:25:43,687 --> 01:25:48,441
I could not focus for four points in a row

1191
01:25:51,361 --> 01:25:52,988
on the court.

1192
01:25:52,988 --> 01:25:57,909
Rather, I thought after two already
that I would win the game.

1193
01:25:57,909 --> 01:26:00,996
Do you consider yourself
to be a genius? In tennis?

1194
01:26:06,626 --> 01:26:08,837
Sometimes I do.

1195
01:26:08,837 --> 01:26:12,299
Sometimes I wonder how I get out of

1196
01:26:12,299 --> 01:26:14,009
the problem once again.

1197
01:26:14,509 --> 01:26:17,846
If I'm down two sets,

1198
01:26:17,846 --> 01:26:21,016
I don't know
where I can get the strength from

1199
01:26:21,016 --> 01:26:24,477
to keep my head and stay cool
and then still make the point.

1200
01:26:24,477 --> 01:26:26,396
That's often a mystery to me too.

1201
01:26:26,396 --> 01:26:29,274
And then I come to the conclusion
that somehow I can

1202
01:26:29,274 --> 01:26:31,151
do it a bit better than the others.

1203
01:26:33,570 --> 01:26:35,697
But not often enough.

1204
01:26:36,907 --> 01:26:40,535
<i>When I found this footage,
it reminded me of something else entirely.</i>

1205
01:26:44,080 --> 01:26:47,292
<i>Harry Houdini put himself
in perilous predicaments,</i>

1206
01:26:47,292 --> 01:26:49,669
<i>so he could entertain us with his escapes.</i>

1207
01:26:53,423 --> 01:26:57,135
<i>Boris Becker saw the mystery,
even genius, of his talent</i>

1208
01:26:57,135 --> 01:26:58,720
<i>as doing the same thing.</i>

1209
01:26:59,304 --> 01:27:03,892
<i>Putting himself in a bad situation
to summon an invincible strength.</i>

1210
01:27:04,726 --> 01:27:08,563
<i>Knowing his future, I wondered
if he learned unconsciously over time</i>

1211
01:27:08,563 --> 01:27:10,607
<i>to seek out bad situations.</i>

1212
01:27:11,399 --> 01:27:13,985
<i>It didn't make sense
as a philosophy of life.</i>

1213
01:27:14,611 --> 01:27:17,113
<i>But on the tennis court,
it was breathtaking.</i>

1214
01:27:25,956 --> 01:27:28,208
{\an8}<i>The two combatants, a little tense.</i>

1215
01:27:29,751 --> 01:27:32,879
<i>And Lendl taking the first chair.</i>

1216
01:27:34,839 --> 01:27:38,301
<i>Ivan Lendl to serve the first game.</i>

1217
01:27:39,219 --> 01:27:42,180
There was a lot at stake.
Ivan was one, I was two.

1218
01:27:42,681 --> 01:27:45,141
If I beat him today,
I'm the new world number one.

1219
01:27:57,946 --> 01:27:59,281
- Out!
- <i>Yes.</i>

1220
01:28:01,741 --> 01:28:03,577
<i>So first blood for Lendl.</i>

1221
01:28:09,416 --> 01:28:11,376
- Out!
- <i>Game, Lendl.</i>

1222
01:28:13,628 --> 01:28:14,629
Out!

1223
01:28:21,219 --> 01:28:22,596
<i>Ace number five.</i>

1224
01:28:24,556 --> 01:28:25,724
<i>That's six now.</i>

1225
01:28:29,352 --> 01:28:32,063
- <i>Game, Lendl.</i>
- <i>Three consecutive aces.</i>

1226
01:28:33,607 --> 01:28:34,691
<i>To set point.</i>

1227
01:28:43,783 --> 01:28:45,452
<i>Game and first set, Lendl.</i>

1228
01:28:50,498 --> 01:28:53,752
<i>I'm bothered by all the stretching
that Becker's been doing.</i>

1229
01:28:53,752 --> 01:28:54,920
<i>Perhaps he has done something.</i>

1230
01:28:54,920 --> 01:28:58,089
<i>Well, I wonder why
he doesn't call for the trainer.</i>

1231
01:28:58,757 --> 01:29:03,136
<i>Well, this is going to be a real test
of Becker's mental powers.</i>

1232
01:29:15,815 --> 01:29:19,110
You hear this phrase so much,
"mentally tough" and "mentally strong."

1233
01:29:19,110 --> 01:29:21,988
How would you describe what that means?

1234
01:29:21,988 --> 01:29:23,698
{\an8}First of all, you know who you are,

1235
01:29:23,698 --> 01:29:27,661
{\an8}and your self-belief
is stronger than your doubts.

1236
01:29:28,245 --> 01:29:31,289
It's really of understanding
what your strengths are

1237
01:29:31,915 --> 01:29:33,625
and also what your flaws are.

1238
01:29:34,501 --> 01:29:36,878
And being vulnerable at times
also is strong.

1239
01:29:37,837 --> 01:29:40,840
Especially in men's sports,
there's no vulnerability,

1240
01:29:40,840 --> 01:29:43,468
you know, if you cry you're weak.

1241
01:29:43,468 --> 01:29:45,303
I don't agree with that at all.

1242
01:29:45,303 --> 01:29:49,724
We all go through emotions, suppressed
emotions that come out when we battle.

1243
01:29:50,517 --> 01:29:54,854
And we have fears, we have doubts
and it's okay to feel this way.

1244
01:29:58,191 --> 01:30:00,652
Once, in a long match like that,
you have that one doubt

1245
01:30:00,652 --> 01:30:05,282
and you feel like, "Well, I can't lift
my right arm up for my serve," it's over.

1246
01:30:05,282 --> 01:30:11,121
The true champions win many Grand Slams
because they have that mental strength,

1247
01:30:11,121 --> 01:30:16,251
{\an8}not to let errors
or thoughts about errors creep in

1248
01:30:16,251 --> 01:30:18,962
{\an8}for a fraction of a second.

1249
01:30:18,962 --> 01:30:21,298
{\an8}When they play, it's all about winning.

1250
01:30:21,298 --> 01:30:23,133
There should be no doubt.

1251
01:30:25,385 --> 01:30:26,803
The rest of us, we had to believe

1252
01:30:26,803 --> 01:30:29,764
that we could find a weakness
in our opponent at some point.

1253
01:30:29,764 --> 01:30:32,142
But with Boris,
I think it was all about himself.

1254
01:30:32,142 --> 01:30:34,853
That he at some point
is gonna find a level

1255
01:30:34,853 --> 01:30:37,939
that he believes he should be playing at
every day, every point.

1256
01:30:37,939 --> 01:30:39,941
It looked like he thought
it was just a matter of time.

1257
01:30:41,318 --> 01:30:44,404
He could be down, losing the matches.

1258
01:30:44,404 --> 01:30:48,074
But then turn around the match,
and end up winning the championship.

1259
01:30:48,074 --> 01:30:49,618
And to be mental strong,

1260
01:30:49,618 --> 01:30:54,706
that is the different
between winning or losing.

1261
01:30:54,706 --> 01:30:58,460
It could be one or two points,
or one game.

1262
01:30:58,460 --> 01:31:03,506
And that is the difference between
a champion and not a champion.

1263
01:31:06,051 --> 01:31:07,427
You're alone on that court.

1264
01:31:07,427 --> 01:31:10,639
And if you have self-doubt,
if you have a lack of confidence,

1265
01:31:10,639 --> 01:31:12,849
you might as well
not even start the match.

1266
01:31:15,185 --> 01:31:16,186
It's a lonely place.

1267
01:31:16,186 --> 01:31:21,399
It's scary to go out in front of 20,000
people and millions watching at home.

1268
01:31:21,399 --> 01:31:25,028
I mean, you--
You know, as a man, you have big balls.

1269
01:31:25,028 --> 01:31:29,157
I mean, you have to-- You have to
go out there and show it to everybody

1270
01:31:29,157 --> 01:31:31,660
that I'm ready to battle today.

1271
01:31:34,704 --> 01:31:36,539
Where I get the strength

1272
01:31:37,624 --> 01:31:40,835
to keep my head and stay cool
and then still make the point,

1273
01:31:40,835 --> 01:31:42,671
that's often a mystery to me too.

1274
01:31:45,340 --> 01:31:48,635
And then I come to the conclusion
that somehow I can

1275
01:31:48,635 --> 01:31:50,262
do it a bit better than the others.

1276
01:32:17,163 --> 01:32:19,416
<i>That's the Becker
we've come to know and love.</i>

1277
01:32:32,178 --> 01:32:33,972
<i>Lendl is really angry now.</i>

1278
01:32:34,806 --> 01:32:36,016
<i>Quiet, please.</i>

1279
01:32:40,186 --> 01:32:41,980
<i>Yes. The set is Becker's.</i>

1280
01:32:58,997 --> 01:33:02,083
<i>Three match points,
three championship points</i>

1281
01:33:02,083 --> 01:33:03,668
<i>for Boris Becker.</i>

1282
01:33:03,668 --> 01:33:08,173
And then I realize, "Oh, shit."

1283
01:33:08,173 --> 01:33:12,802
It could be over soon. I also thought,
"This here could be my last stroke as--

1284
01:33:12,802 --> 01:33:15,388
Or rather, my first stroke as number one."

1285
01:33:18,308 --> 01:33:21,394
What will happen if I make it?
There is nothing left anymore.

1286
01:33:26,691 --> 01:33:29,110
{\an8}<i>That's it, Becker is the new champion.</i>

1287
01:33:39,955 --> 01:33:42,832
And suddenly, I could fly!

1288
01:33:42,832 --> 01:33:47,587
I couldn't stand still.
I had to move, I had to get out.

1289
01:33:52,509 --> 01:33:56,596
I didn't want to compose myself,
because I've done that the entire time.

1290
01:33:56,596 --> 01:34:00,976
I ran outside and just kept running.

1291
01:34:04,020 --> 01:34:06,856
One of the security guys
started running after me.

1292
01:34:06,856 --> 01:34:09,651
He said, "Listen, Boris.
The whole world is waiting."

1293
01:34:12,737 --> 01:34:17,492
<i>Well, this is the walk that Boris Becker
had planned in his dreams.</i>

1294
01:34:27,669 --> 01:34:31,172
Well, I cannot say very much right now.

1295
01:34:31,172 --> 01:34:34,926
It's just unbelievable for me
at this moment and...

1296
01:34:36,219 --> 01:34:39,180
Thank you all, and I'm sorry. Thank you.

1297
01:34:52,861 --> 01:34:54,905
I was a little terrified of that moment.

1298
01:34:56,489 --> 01:34:57,616
Then in that moment,

1299
01:34:57,616 --> 01:35:02,913
it was as if a tremendous weight
was suddenly lifted off of my shoulders.

1300
01:35:02,913 --> 01:35:08,168
It was a little bit like Wimbledon '85.

1301
01:35:11,296 --> 01:35:16,218
It will never again be how it was.
That's what I felt in that moment.

1302
01:35:17,010 --> 01:35:18,053
Everything was free.