Boris Becker feared attack in prison but learned lesson

• Boris Becker was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for tax evasion.
• He has been released from prison less than a week ago.
• The 55-year-old rediscovered himself in jail.

After spent seven and a half months in a UK prison, former Grand Slam tennis champion Boris Becker was released less than a week ago.

Since then, he has spoken about his loneliness, his fears, and the lessons he learnt while there.

In a lengthy and at times emotional German TV interview, he revealed he had learned a hard, painful and very expensive lesson and rediscovered the person he once was: “But the whole experience also taught me something important and good. And some things happen for a good reason.”

Becker, 55, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison last April for hiding $3.5 million (£2.5 million) in assets and loans in order to avoid paying his creditors.

As a result of an unpaid loan of more than £3 million on his Spanish estate in Majorca, he was declared bankrupt in 2017 with debts of approximately £50 million.

On a private flight paid for by a friend, the former tennis champion and TV analyst was deported to Germany last week.

His first confinement was at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London, but the majority of his term was served at Huntercombe Prison in Oxfordshire, close to Henley.

It is one of two institutions set aside for foreign nationals and is a Category C jail, making it more secure than an open prison.

Becker immediately presented a leaner figure than when he was sent to prison in April while dressed in all black for the interview.

He also had hair that was clearly darker. He claimed that while incarcerated, you are merely a nameless number. A2923EV was his code.

“For the first time in my life I felt hungry – meaning I went to bed hungry,” he remarked, pointing out he weighed 97kg on arrival in jail and lost 7kg over the next few months, although he had since put on more weight.

“Prison was good for my health. They did have alcohol but I didn’t drink any.”

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