Tennis legend Boris Becker celebrates arrival of his fifth child on his 58th birthday

Tennis legend Boris Becker has celebrated the arrival of his fifth child, announcing the news on his own 58th birthday.

The former world No.1 is less than three years removed from spending time in a notorious British prison before being deported to Germany upon his release.

Becker was found guilty of illicitly transferring large amounts of money and hiding assets after he was declared bankrupt.

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But he quickly moved on with life after returning home, almost immediately returning to work as a tennis commentator and later marrying partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro.

Becker has now announced the couple, who are 24 years apart in age, welcomed a daughter on Friday.

“Welcome to the world… Zoë Vittoria Becker,” he wrote on Saturday, the day of his birthday.

Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro and Boris Becker in 2024. Credit: Beatriz Velasco/Getty Images

The new addition is the latest twist in the life of a sporting superstar whose love life and financial problems have generated plenty of headlines since his retirement.

Much of the fortune earned from his career disappeared as a result of his tax problems, while continuing to maintain a lavish lifestyle, some dubious investments and a multimillion-dollar divorce settlement with first wife Barbara in 2001.

In 1999 he fathered a child with a Russian model Angela Ermakova after a brief sexual encounter in London’s Nobu restaurant while Barbara was pregnant with their second child.

In addition to those three children, Becker had another son with his second wife Lilly in 2010.

In 2018 Becker claimed diplomatic immunity from his bankruptcy proceedings by saying he had been appointed sports envoy to the European Union for Central African Republic and had received a passport at an official ceremony.

Becker had never visited the country, whose foreign minister later said the passport was a “clumsy fake” and launched an enquiry.

In 2022 Lilly claimed she was “very much still” Becker’s wife despite reports they had split four years later and his new relationship with Lilian.

“Estranged wife as that may be, but we’re still very much married and have been since we went our separate ways,” Lilly said.

“It was from the beginning intense and a complete, true love story. Everyone who knows us knows this.

“It’s not that I don’t want to get a divorce. We should handle our business at the right time.”

Breaking from his work as a commentator, Becker coached Novak Djokovic to six grand slam triumphs and several more titles from 2013-16.

Becker coached Djokovic to six grand slam titles. Credit: AAP

After his release from Wandsworth Prison, Becker said the first time being locked in his cell was “the loneliest moment I’ve ever had in life”.

In an autobiography released this year Becker detailed life in jail.

“Trying to shave with the stubby little razor they had given me, I ended up with nicks on my cheeks and stabby slashes under my chin and down my neck,” he wrote.

“Soon after, I was summoned to a medical with the doctor who asked if I was self-harming. Why would I? My mind was only focused on doing things to protect myself.”

Becker added drugs were commonplace within the prison walls.

“As the days went by, I learned that you could get anything you wanted in prison. Alcohol was easy. People made it themselves with sugar, fruit and other things you could buy legitimately with your allowance from the canteen … then there were the drugs,” he said.

“Weed, pills, heroin. Sometimes they came in the prison version of internal mail. Up the back passage. Sometimes it was the wardens – someone taking a cut, someone with a weakness or a problem left vulnerable to a bribe.”

He also recalled the physical hardship of daily life in Wandsworth.

“Some days those showers would be icy cold. You never knew why. It was just another unpleasant fact in a day you don’t control,” he said.

“Dirt all over the floor, on the tiles. I was lent a pair of flip-flops. Boris, wear them, because we don’t know who was there before. The first time in my life I ever showered in flip-flops.”