Boris Becker received two and a half years in prison for tax evasion in 2022. Photo: BBC
Boris Becker says he is returning to the tennis tour as coach of energetic young Danish player Holger Rune, but will not be able to attend Wimbledon next year due to a tax evasion conviction.
Becker revealed his new role in an interview with Eurosport, where he has been working since January. Just a month earlier, he had been deported from the UK after serving eight months of his two-and-a-half year sentence.
He described the period of his imprisonment as having been spent first in Wandsworth Prison in London and then in Huntercombe prison in Oxfordshire, «cruel».
It is unclear how long it will be before Becker is allowed to return to the UK, but the post-conviction travel ban could last ten years and it is understood that Becker's deportation order will last for 10 years as his sentence was less than four years. , unless it was withdrawn due to “exceptional circumstances”. Of course, Rune will not be able to take Becker with him to the grass tournaments at the Royal Club or Wimbledon next summer.
In response to the Telegraph Sport report, a Home Office spokesman said: «Any foreign national who has been convicted of a crime and deported, they are prohibited from returning while the deportation order made against them remains in force.»
We can only assume that Rune agrees with this announcement. He featured Becker in recent social media posts, including a photo of his weekend cheer squad with the caption «Great week of training in Monaco.»
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Post published by Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune (@holgerrune)
But Rune’s coaching situation has been difficult for some time now. Between October and April he had links with Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams' former coach, but it was never entirely clear whether he was primarily working with Mouratoglou or Dane Lars Christensen.
Becker left no room. for doubt in his interview with Eurosport, saying: “I can confirm that I am Holger Rune’s coach. I'm a little proud that he asked me. The contact has existed for a long time. Now it's a very good fit.»
This will be Becker's first coaching role since he worked with Novak Djokovic between 2013 and 2016 — a period during which Djokovic won six major titles and spent 122 weeks as the first racket of the world.
As with Mouratoglou and Rune, this was not a simple technical role. Becker offered a wide range of recommendations, and Marian Vajda from Slovakia (most of the time spent together) taught classes on the site.
“I met Holger when he was 15 or 16 years old,” said Becker, the world number eight. “It was at the ATP Finals, when I was still coaching Novak Djokovic. Holger was our training partner. That's how long I've known him and his mother. We always kept the conversation going. And then the question arose: “Can you help me?” And my answer was: “Yes, let me visit you in Monte Carlo.”
“Then he talked about the rest of the year. I was fine with that and freed up time for Basel, Paris and, if possible, Turin (site of the eight-man ATP Finals). After that, we will decide whether there is a future for cooperation and whether we will go together into 2024.”
Rune has lost seven of his eight matches since Wimbledon
In all likelihood, Becker's first task will be to convince Rune, who at 20 is one of tennis's most promising talents, to get off the treadmill. This time last year, Rune was almost unstoppable, beating Djokovic to win the Paris Masters. He also developed a reputation for letting other players down, with three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka telling him to «stop acting like a child» during a cold handshake at the gate.
But despite maintaining his form into the first half of 2023, Rune has lost seven of his eight matches since Wimbledon. According to his mother Anneke, he has been struggling with a bulging disc for some time. And yet he insists on continuing the game. On Tuesday he lost to Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round of Stockholm. Before that, he beat world number 122 Brandon Nakashima 6-0, 6-2 in Shanghai.
Becker, who plans to start his career next week in Basel, alluded to this question when he said: «For me it's a question: 'What is Holger's motivation?' And the reason to go to China, for example? Just for the sake of winning the first round or tournament, for the sake of ranking points? … If he plays every week, he will eventually get tired. That's why I have to have a big say in this, according to the motto: «Here we have to insert a training week, here we have to recover, and maybe you go on vacation with your girlfriend for 10 days.»
Becker was an important part of the «super coach» trend that Andy Murray started with the hiring of Ivan Lendl in late 2011. Lendl has since returned for a third time with Murray — again, in a relatively distant role — while Djokovic now employs former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and Rafael Nadal is coached by former world number one Carlos Moya.
However, none of those names can compete with Becker's playing status—nor does his checkered and complicated life story. .
His return to the tour confirms that — as far as the tennis world is concerned — Becker's punishment for tax evasion ended on the day of his release.
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