Bankrupt Becker’s trophies are fair game

Becker won six Grand Slams during a glittering career but even those treasured trophies are fair game as insolvency practitioners responsible for handling his bankruptcy try to track them down to pay his creditors.

The German took the tennis world by storm when as a redheaded 17-year-old he became the then youngest-ever men’s Grand Slam champion at Wimbledon in 1985, defending his trophy the following year.

Nicknamed “Boom Boom” Becker early in his career, he went on to win a further four majors and 49 singles titles in all, amassing US$25 million (RM97 million) in prize money and was selected to enter the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2003.

But the 50-year-old’s business career has been less successful and last year he suffered the ignominy of being declared bankrupt by a London court.

Now, in an unusual twist, Becker is pleading for help to track down five missing Grand Slam trophies — including all three of his Wimbledon trophies — plus others, with the intention that they will be sold to pay his creditors.

Mark Ford, one of three insolvency practitioners at Londonbased Smith & Williamson, charged with collating Becker’s assets and selling them, said that Becker’s case is complex, even after 20 years of dealing with corporate and personal insolvency.

“We are pursuing lines of inquiry into Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Guernsey, the United States, Australia — for the recovery of trophies and other assets — and Jersey. That is genuinely demonstrative of an international bankruptcy.

“We have spoken to close to 20 former advisors to Mr Becker and written to more than a dozen banks. There is plenty going on.”

Becker, who enjoyed a successful spell from 2014 until 2016 as coach of former World No 1 Novak Djokovic, during which the Serbian won six Grand Slam titles, is under pressure to find the trophies even though he says he does not know where they are.

“Mr Becker has, he claims, gifted only one trophy to his mother,” said Ford.

“If he has gifted a trophy then that is something we would need to explore through discussion, and investigation, as that presents a difficult problem because there is no paperwork.

“All the trophies, medals and valuables will need to be given to me so that they can be sold to pay some money back to his creditors.”