Boris Becker declared bankrupt by British court

To a generation of tennis fans he will always be ‘Boom Boom’ Becker, the explosive young German who won the men’s singles title at Wimbledon three times - the first in 1985 as a mere 17-year-old.

But after a sparkling tennis career, followed by one as a TV pundit for the sport, he has now added a rather less than glorious chapter to his CV, that of bankrupt.

Becker, now 49, was declared bankrupt on Wednesday over undisclosed sums of money he has owed to the London-based private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co, since October 2015.

And it must have come as little comfort to him that the judge who handed down the ruling reminisced over seeing him in action on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

Following the bankruptcy declaration Becker’s remaining assets and property will be disposed of to pay his creditors.

There is also the possibility they will seek any earnings he makes as a commentator at next month’s Wimbledon Championships to be used as payment towards his debts.

The Bankruptcy and Companies Court heard that Becker, who has a home in Wimbledon, had offered to remortgage his six million Euro property (£5.2m) in Majorca as part of a deal to pay off the debt.

John Briggs, Becker’s advocate, told the bankruptcy judge, Christine Derrett, that it was expected the deal would be approved by a Spanish bank in around a month.

"I don't want to play around in court. It is clearly in the interests (of Arbuthnot Latham) for there to be refinancing,” said Mr Briggs.

Becker, who was the youngest player to win the men's singles championship and went on to win it again in 1986 and 1989, was once estimated to be worth upwards of £100 million.

But Mr Briggs conceded: "He is not a sophisticated individual when it comes to finances.”

Indeed Becker’s abilities when it comes to financial matters have not been on a par with his skill on the court.

In 2001 he was landed with divorce and paternity settlements totalling more than £20 million to his first wife, Barbara, and Angela Ermakova, the Russian model who had his baby following an encounter in the broom cupboard of a London restaurant.

The following year Becker received a two-year suspended sentence for tax evasion and was ordered to pay £2.5million in back tax, fines, and costs after claiming Monaco as his main residence while spending much of his time in Munich.