Becker regrets winning Wimbledon at 17, saying early triumph brought lifelong pressure

Boris Becker says winning Wimbledon at the age of 17 placed him under a level of scrutiny and pressure that shaped his life and career in ways he regrets. The German was 17 years, seven months and 15 days old when he defeated Kevin Curren in 1985 to become the youngest men's Wimbledon champion in the Open era, a milestone that propelled him to the pinnacle of tennis but also framed the expectations that followed.

Becker helped redefine the sport in the 1980s, winning a total of six Grand Slam titles and becoming one of his generation’s defining players. He claimed two more Wimbledon titles after that breakthrough, and his name became synonymous with power, reach and a relentless will to win. Yet the same early success that elevated him also cast a long shadow over his personal life and finances. In recent years, Becker spoke openly about how the pressure to live up to that early triumph affected him long after he hung up his racket, a dynamic he described as destabilizing both on and off the court.

"If you remember any other wunderkind (wonderkid), they usually don't make it to 50 because of the trials and tribulations that come after," Becker told BBC Sport. "Whatever you do, wherever you go, whoever you talk to, it becomes a world sensation. And you're just trying to mature, just trying to find your feet in the world. When you start a second career everything is measured at this success of winning Wimbledon at 17. And that changed the road ahead tremendously. I'm happy to have won three, but maybe 17 was too young. I was still a child." The weight of that early success, he said, set a trajectory that was difficult to navigate as he grew up.

After retirement in 1999, Becker remained in the public eye as a television pundit and, for a time, as a coach. He coached Novak Djokovic for three years, from 2013 to 2016, helping the Serb add six of his 24 Grand Slam titles. The 57-year-old has since written a book about his time in prison and has spoken about how Djokovic’s 2022 Wimbledon title offered him a much-needed sense of perspective. "I was supporting Djokovic at the time I saw him on the TV, when he was winning matches and ultimately winning the title against Nick Kyrgios," Becker said. "That was very inspirational for me and in the end very emotional for me. My brother Novak is there and I'm in one of the worst prisons in the world. So it puts life into perspective."

Becker was deported from the UK after his release from prison in London, where he had served eight months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence for hiding £2.5 million worth of assets and loans to avoid debts. He attributed much of his later trouble to a lifestyle that, in hindsight, lacked accountability. "I was too comfortable. I had too much money. Nobody told me 'no' - everything was possible. In hindsight, that's the recipe for disaster," he said. "So you take accountability for your actions, which is very important because you cannot look back any more. You cannot change the past. You can only change the future because you live in today."

The former World No. 1’s reflections come as he looks back on a career that brought him unparalleled highs and difficult, high-profile challenges off the court. Becker has continued to engage with tennis and the wider sporting world, and his experiences have shaped his outlook on fame, responsibility and resilience. His story remains a reminder of the pressure that can accompany early success and the personal reckoning that can follow a life lived in the public eye.