On the eve of his 34th birthday, tennis superstar Boris Becker admits the best present this year would be a reconciliation with his ex-wife Barbara.
“The greatest birthday surprise of all would be if she stood before my door with the children,” he revealed to German magazine Stern. “If it were up to me we wouldn’t have divorced. That was never my intention. I still love Barbara today.”
Boris blames external pressure from lawyers and advisors for their split. “We only planned to separate,” he said. “But we were no longer captains on the ship… We were being towed along.”
The tennis champ, who first scored a Wimbledon title at the tender age of 17, has had a rocky time in recent years following the death of his father, Karl Heinz, in 1999. “I was completely overwhelmed,” he said. “I was a mess. I wasn’t able to come to terms with the pain over the loss of my father. I couldn’t see the sense of it all anymore.”
Boris’ downward spiral included a brief fling with German rap star Sabrina Setlur, charges of tax evasion – claims which have just resurfaced – and the revelation that he fathered a child with Russian model Angela Ermakova during a in a cupboard closet in 1999.
“That was an act which lasted five seconds,” he previously said of the rendezvous. “Never seen her before. Didn’t see her again. It was a mistake which will haunt me for the rest of my life. The result is brutal for me, but also particularly for my wife, my children, my mother.”
But Boris seems to have turned things around. “I’ve got back in touch with myself since the summer,” he says. “I’ve done nothing more than try to regain control of my life.” Boris, nicknamed “Boom Boom” for the terrifying speed of his serve and volley, has been visiting Barbara and their two children in Florida several times each month and would not rule out a second trip down the aisle. “Never say never,” he says.
“My feet are back on the ground… I’ve learned a lot in the last year.”
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
