Boris Becker

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In 1986, Becker successfully defended his Wimbledon title, defeating No. 1 Ivan Lendl in straight sets in the final with "a typically awesome array of sledgehammer serves and blockbuster groundstrokes". In the US Open semi finals, Miloslav Mečíř "handled the West German's booming serve with ease, used his groundstrokes to move Becker from side to side, and hit his serves so deep that Becker had trouble handling them" and Mecir won in five sets. In 1987 Becker reached his first French Open semi final, where he lost to Mats Wilander in straight sets. At Wimbledon Becker, then ranked 2, lost in the second round to Peter Doohan, ranked 70. In the Davis Cup that year, Becker and John McEnroe played one of the longest matches in tennis history. Becker won in five sets lasting 6 hours and 22 minutes.

In 1989, Becker lost to Edberg in the French Open semifinals. He defeated Edberg in the Wimbledon final, "volleying flawlessly and returning serve so well the Swede never had opportunities to take control with his vaunted net play, made few mistakes and won almost every crucial point". Becker then beat Lendl in the US Open final to win two Grand Slam singles titles in a year for the only time in his career. Lendl admitted afterwards "I had good stamina but was missing a little bit of my explosive energy". He also helped West Germany retain the Davis Cup, defeating Andre Agassi in the semifinal round after dropping the first two sets, in an epic spread over two days. Sports Illustrated ranked it as among the best matches ever played, alongside the 1972 WCT Finals final between Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall, and the 1980 Wimbledon final between Björn Borg and John McEnroe. As a result, Becker was named Player of The Year by the ATP Tour.

In 1990, Becker met Edberg for the third consecutive year in the Wimbledon final, but this time lost in a five-set match. He failed to successfully defend his US Open title, losing to Agassi in the semifinals. Becker reached the final of the Australian Open for the first time in his career in 1991, where he defeated Lendl to claim the No. 1 ranking. Becker won the match with "his more dynamic play at the net, frolicking on the hard court as if it were Wimbledon's grass". Another loss to Agassi in the French Open semifinals kept him from winning the first two Grand Slam tournaments of the year. He was ranked No. 1 for 12 weeks during 1991 and reached his fourth consecutive Wimbledon final. However, he lost in straight sets to fellow German and No. 7 Michael Stich.

In 1996, Becker's sixth and final Grand Slam title came as he defeated Chang in the final of the Australian Open. After winning the Queen's Club Championships for the fourth time, Becker was widely expected to mount a serious challenge for the Wimbledon title in 1996, but his bid ended abruptly when he damaged his right wrist during a third-round match against Neville Godwin and was forced to withdraw. Becker defeated Sampras in October 1996 in a five-set final in Stuttgart Masters. "Becker is the best indoor player I've ever played", said Sampras after the match. Becker lost to Sampras in the final of the 1996 ATP Tour World Championships in Hanover, although Becker saved two match points in the fourth set and held serve 27 consecutive times until he was broken in the penultimate game. Later that year he won the Grand Slam Cup defeating Goran Ivanišević in the final.

Over the course of his career, Becker won 49 singles titles and 15 doubles titles. Besides his six Grand Slam titles, he was also a singles winner in the year-end Masters / ATP Tour World Championships in 1988, 1992, and 1995, the WCT Finals in 1988 and at the Grand Slam Cup in 1996. He won a record-equaling four singles titles at London's Queen's Club. In Davis Cup, his career win–loss record was 54–12, including 38–3 in singles. He also won the other two major international team titles playing for Germany, the Hopman Cup (in 1995) and the World Team Cup (in 1989 and 1998). He is the first male player to appear in 7 Wimbledon finals in the Modern Era, tied by Sampras in 2000, and behind the 10 Wimbledon finals reached by Djokovic and the record 12 Wimbledon finals appearances by Federer.

Becker won singles titles in 14 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. In 2003, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He occasionally plays on the senior tour and in World Team Tennis. After his career, he also took part in exhibition matches as Michael Stich and in 2005 they answered questions from the journalist and radio presenter Marc Engelhard about the state of tennis. He has also worked as a commentator at Wimbledon for the BBC.

Becker occasionally deviated from his serve-and-volley style to try to out-hit, from the baseline, opponents who normally were at their best while remaining near the baseline. Even though Becker possessed powerful shots from both wings, this strategy was often criticized by commentators.

Becker had frequent emotional outbursts on court. Whenever he considered himself to be playing badly, he often swore at himself and occasionally smashed his rackets. In 1987, he was fined $2000 following a series of outbursts during the Australian Open in Melbourne, including breaking three rackets, "twice throwing the ball in an offensive manner at the umpire, hitting the umpire's chair on one occasion, spitting water in the direction of the umpire, and hitting three balls out of the court." Becker's highly dramatic play spawned new expressions such as the Becker Blocker (his trademark early return shot), the Becker Hecht (a flying lunge), the Becker Faust ("Becker Fist"), the Becker Shuffle (the dance he sometimes performed after making important points), and Becker Säge ("Becker Saw" – referring to the way in which he pumped his fists in a sawing motion).

• These records were attained in Open Era of tennis.
• Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
• ^ Denotes consecutive streak.

• ITF World Champion: 1989.
• ATP Player of the Year: 1989.
• ATP Most Improved Player: 1985.

A criminal investigation into his tax affairs began in December 1996 while he was still an active professional tennis player. By the time German prosecutors filed charges of tax evasion against the tennis star in July 2002, Becker had already retired from the sport. The retired tennis player, who had earned over US$25 million in prize money plus millions in endorsements, was originally charged with withholding taxes of DM10.4 million (US$5 million), however, the trial ended up being for the considerably lower sum of DM3.3 million (€1.6 million) for which prosecutors believed they had evidence. The trial was to focus on where Becker lived between 1991 and 1993 (his tax filings claimed Monaco while the prosecution had evidence of the player in fact spending the majority of that time in the Munich area).

On his day in court on 23 October 2002, 34-year-old Becker admitted to living in Munich between 1991 and 1993 despite being officially registered in Monaco, however, maintaining he could not be accused of withholding income or engaging in criminal machinations. As part of his defence, Becker emphasized that his property where he stayed in Munich was not a standard apartment but a "spartan flat with just a bed and no refrigerator" being part of his sister's property where he stayed when visiting her. It also came out that he had been warned against purchasing the Munich apartment, but ignored the warnings. The player also told the court that the financial investigations that had begun in December 1996 played a role in his decision to retire from tennis due to "countless raids of his house and office" and that he "hasn't won any tournaments since then and ended his career".

Simultaneously with Becker's testimony, his lawyer presented the court with evidence that a week prior to his court date, Becker had paid around €3 million in back taxes, far exceeding the DM3.3 million (€1.6 million) amount he was in the dock for. Despite the admission, as well as the payment, both seen as part of an attempt to settle the six-year process with a lighter sentence, the prosecution still asked the court for a sentence of three years and six months in jail.

One day later, on 24 October 2002, the Munich District Court judge Huberta Knöringer gave Becker a two-year prison sentence, the execution of which was suspended. Additionally, his sentence included a fine of €300,000 and another €200,000 to various charitable institutions.

Also in 2000, Becker partnered up with the German IT company Pixelpark AG for a joint dot-com bubble: Sportgate.de, a German-language website covering local, regional and national sporting scene in Germany. The venture shut down during summer 2001, less than a year into its operation, amid reports of Becker's business partner, Pixelpark's CEO Paulus Neef who owned a 35% stake in Sportgate, failing to come up with a promised £1m cash injection. Paulus countered with a lawsuit against Becker in the Munich regional court for feeling "conned".

Becker's autobiography, Augenblick, verweile doch... (English language: The Player) was published in 2003. It included details of his 1999 sexual encounter with the Russian waitress Angela Ermakova that triggered the eventual end of his marriage to Feltus and the admission of addiction to painkillers and sleeping pills during some of his tennis career. The book made The Sunday Times bestseller list.

In June 2015, another Becker autobiography, Boris Becker's Wimbledon: My Life and Career at the All England Club, was published with a foreword by the world's number 1 player and reigning Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic whom Becker coached at the time.

From October 2005 to June 2006, Becker was a team captain on the British TV sports quiz show They Think It's All Over on BBC One. He appeared on the second episode of series 16 of the BBC's car show Top Gear as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

On 23 August 2017, Becker was named the head of men's tennis of the German Tennis Federation (DTB).

Becker is a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.