Boris Becker says a murderer ‘wanted to kill him’ when he was in prison for offences relating to his bankruptcy.
The six-time Grand Slam winner was convicted earlier this year and ultimately served several weeks in the UK’s Wandsworth prison before being released and deported back to Germany.
After his release, he gave a controversial $500,000 interview and, in it, he claimed he was lucky to escaped unharmed after a murdered took a dislike to him.
“[The convicted murderer] wanted to kill me,” Becker told SAT 1. “He couldn't accept that I was friends with black inmates.
“He underestimated that other inmates would come to my help and threaten him.'
Becker never challenged his guilty verdict and has described the whole experience as a ‘very hard and expensive lesson.’
He also spoke of his life inside the prison, and especially how little his fame mattered.
“In prison you are a nobody,” Becker told SAT.1. You are only a number. Mine was A2923EV. I wasn’t called Boris, I was a number. And nobody gives a s*** who you are.
“I had two big concerns, one was a double cell, sharing a cell with someone who could attack you or threaten you and then the shower cubicles.
“You close the door, take your clothes off and look behind you, it's not human. You have seen the films and dropping the soap but then the governor explained to me and that it would be safe, so I was grateful to him.
“When the cell door is slammed shut at 8pm, no one told me when it would open again and that's when your whole world collapses and you are alone with your thoughts. I was desperate, I was afraid.”
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