Boris Becker has been in the spotlight since his rise to fame as a teenager after winning Wimbledon.
Becker won Wimbledon for the first time as a 17-year-old in just his second appearance at The Championships in 1985.
The German won six Grand Slam titles before retiring from tennis, with Becker going on to coach Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune after ending his tennis career.
Becker also comments on current ATP players when conducting his media duties, and he has now reflected back on the mistakes he made in his own tennis career.
Photo by Steve Powell/Allsport/Getty ImagesBoris Becker wishes he had not won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old
Becker is the fourth youngest Grand Slam champion in the Open Era, winning Wimbledon at just 17 years and 228 days old.
The now 57-year-old has faced many challenges in his career and life since then, which he has now spoken about on the High Performance podcast.
In this podcast interview, Becker revealed that he wishes he had taken a break in his tennis career in his mid-twenties, something he claimed could have extended his tennis career.
“Actually the 17-year-old did alright. He was a, talking about myself here, a tennis machine. I played, I won the tournaments, number one,” said Becker. “Really up until I retired from tennis, that’s when the problems started.
“There was a time in my mid-twenties where I was burnt out, I was tired from tennis. Maybe in hindsight today, I would say at 25, take a break. Take a year off, see what you want to do, if you’re still willing to pay the price to be the best tennis player you can be. You know, smell the roses a little bit. So, I didn’t do that.
“I kept on, you know, I had contracts. There was responsibilities and so forth. So, I played that up until I was 32. Maybe I would have played longer if I would have taken a break at 25. I mean, now guys playing their mid-thirties, you know.
“But then I stopped also, I had a bad injury, I had a bad right ankle and that needed to be fixed and I think that was another main reason why I said, ‘Listen, I don’t know if I’m ever going to come back. You know, the surgery is going to be very bad’.”
Becker later spoke about his Wimbledon title win in particular, and admitted that he wishes his first Grand Slam victory had come at a later age.
“It’s not healthy winning Wimbledon at 17 in hindsight,” added Becker. “I’d rather would have won it later. Maybe more often.
“You know, I lost, I was in the seven finals, I lost four. So, that’s something that still p***** me off today. So winning at 17 couldn’t have been healthy, there was no normal way out of this, I know that today.”
Boris Becker’s Grand Slam final record
Becker is one of the most successful players in Grand Slam history, but he still feels he could have won more than six major titles.
The German was in 10 Grand Slam finals in his career, with seven of those finals coming at Wimbledon.
Six of Becker’s 10 major finals were against two players, going unbeaten in his three finals against Ivan Lendl, but only winning one of his three finals against Stefan Edberg.
Grand SlamBoris Becker’s Final ResultWimbledon 1985Becker beat Kevin Curren (8), 6-3 6(4)-7 7-6(3) 6-4Wimbledon 1986Becker beat Ivan Lendl (1), 6-4 6-3 7-5Wimbledon 1988Stefan Edberg (3) beat Becker, 4-6 7-6(2) 6-4 6-2Wimbledon 1989Becker beat Stefan Edberg (2), 6-0 7-6(1) 6-4US Open 1989Becker beat Ivan Lendl (1), 7-6(2) 1-6 6-3 7-6(4)Wimbledon 1990Stefan Edberg (3) beat Becker, 6-2 6-2 3-6 3-6 6-4Australian Open 1991Becker beat Ivan Lendl (3), 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4Wimbledon 1991Michael Stich (6) beat Becker, 6-4 7-6(4) 6-4Wimbledon 1995Pete Sampras (2) beat Becker, 6(5)-7 6-2 6-4 6-2Australian Open 1996Becker beat Michael Chang (5), 6-2 6-4 2-6 6-2
Although Becker is most associated with winning Wimbledon, where he is a three-time former champion, that is not where he won his final Grand Slam title.
At 28 years old, Becker won his sixth and final Grand Slam title after beating Michael Chang in the 1996 Australian Open final.
Becker would only make four more Grand Slam appearances after winning the 1996 Australian Open, and he was unable to surpass the quarterfinals.