The former tennis champion Boris Becker has disclosed terrifying encounters with violent criminals during his eight-month incarceration in British prisons.
The 57-year-old German, who once possessed a fortune of £38million, was imprisoned for concealing assets from creditors.
His sentence was served at HMP Wandsworth and later at Huntercombe prison in Oxfordshire, which houses foreign nationals.
Throughout his detention, Becker endured constant anxiety, inadequate food, and freezing temperatures.
In a book, Becker describes facing death threats from convicted murderers and navigating a prisoner-controlled hierarchy where survival required forming strategic alliances.
His experiences included confrontations that left him genuinely fearing for his safety within the dangerous prison environment.
A seemingly innocent poker game nearly resulted in severe consequences for Becker when he accumulated a £500 debt to prison gamblers.
Boris Becker was imprisoned for concealing assets
| PAThough this sum would have been insignificant during his wealthy tennis career, including times when he flew Concorde to watch basketball in New York, it represented approximately eight months of prison allowances.
"I was told that I owed them £500, It was a shock. That would have been nothing to me on the outside. But inside it was a lot of money - your weekly allowance for about eight months."
The gamblers began intimidating him with menacing stares and circling behaviour.
Two debt collectors eventually visited his cell, demanding payment with an implicit threat.
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A Romanian prisoner convicted of double murder cautioned Becker that the gambling ring's leader was "a little crazy" and warned: "Otherwise you're going to see how crazy he can be."
Becker ultimately arranged a bank transfer to resolve the dangerous situation.
A particularly frightening incident occurred when Becker encountered an inmate called Zac in another prisoner's cell. Upon questioning Zac's presence, the convicted killer responded with extreme aggression.
"'Hey. What are you doing in Ike's cell?' I said. He came straight at me. 'Who the f**k are you? I'm going to f**k you up. I'm going to break your head. I'm going to slit your throat. I'm going to kill you,'" Becker recounted.
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Boris Becker revealed a prisoner threatened him with violence when he didn't pay money he owed
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Fellow prisoners intervened to prevent violence. Several days afterwards, Zac approached Becker in the prison laundry with a dramatic change of attitude.
"He started kissing my hand and saying sorry," Becker explained. "He wasn't just apologising to me but to Ike, who was the boss on our wing."
Becker detailed the severe physical hardships he endured during his imprisonment, losing seven kilograms within the initial four weeks.
Multiple factors contributed to this dramatic weight loss, including psychological strain, insufficient nutrition, and the absence of alcohol or sweets.
"By October, I was sleeping in my tracksuit and socks. Some nights it was so cold in my cell that I slept in two jackets and two pairs of socks, wrapping a towel around my head," he revealed.
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Despite these brutal conditions, fellow inmates surprised him with an extraordinary gesture on his birthday, presenting three homemade cakes.
"I couldn't believe it," Becker stated. "Never in my life had I ever received three birthday cakes on the same day."
Becker's release came on December 14, 2022, through a covert deportation operation. He departed Britain aboard a private aircraft bound for Stuttgart, avoiding public attention.
"I waited in a small departure room until I heard Lilian's footsteps coming down the corridor," he recalled. "We held each other and cried."
Boris Becker won six Grand Slams throughout his career
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The reunion with his wife Lilian, 57, marked the beginning of a challenging transition. Intense media scrutiny in Germany made normal life impossible, forcing the couple to relocate to Milan.
Becker acknowledges that his imprisonment fundamentally transformed him.
"I knew I had to start again from zero and just begin building again," he stated.
The couple married on the Italian Riviera last year, with Becker describing how they "looked out over the Mediterranean and felt the future welcoming us in".