I may be bankrupt, but it’s crazy to think that I’m broke, says Boris Becker
German tennis legend who owes £3.1m to London private bank claims ‘my business is red hot now’
BORIS BECKER has denied that he has run out of money and insisted he could still pay his debts, as he spoke out for the first time at the weekend about being declared bankrupt.
“It’s crazy to think I’m broke,” Mr Becker told Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper. “I have enough national and international deals to earn an income that will allow me to pay my staff on time and carry on my life as normal.
“I’m going to Zurich this evening, I’m going to check into a hotel and pay my own bill. If I was insolvent, I couldn’t do that. If I take a taxi, I’ll pay for it. And believe me, I haven’t stolen a thing.”
The 49-year-old former tennis star remains one of the most recognisable names in world sport, decades after he won the Wimbledon men’s singles title three times, the first at the age of 17.
But he made headlines of a different sort over the summer after he was declared bankrupt by a London court over about £3million he has owed a private bank since Oct 2015.
The court ordered his assets and property to be disposed of to meet his debts, leading to speculation that Mr Becker has squandered a personal fortune once estimated at £100 million.
But Mr Becker painted a very different picture of his finances. “It’s true that I have been in bankruptcy since June 21, but it’s wrong that I am broke,” he claimed.
“My name, my brand are more current than they have been for 20 years. If you’re looking for publicity, you hire Boris Becker. Attention guaranteed.
“I have a lot of advertising contracts on my desk because companies have noticed the name Boris Becker is hot. You can find a lot of good advertising slogans from the last four months with a dash of humour. Elizabeth Taylor once said: ‘No news is bad news.’ I can’t win Wimbledon every year, but my business is my brand and it’s red hot right now.”
He said he was not disputing a debt of around €3.5million (£3.1million) to the London-based private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co. But he claimed he had not paid the money because of a disagreement over interest owing on the sum. “The bank is demanding 25 per cent. I say it’s between 3 and 5 per cent. Unfortunately, the bank has been refusing to meet me and my lawyers for more than a year to settle the difference,” he claimed.
“Instead, they went to an English court, which ordered the bankruptcy. But I’m not broke. I would rather settle the matter today than tomorrow.”
Arbuthnot Latham has not commented on the sum Mr Becker owes, which was not disclosed in court.
Mr Becker denied that he owes any money to Hans Dieter Cleven, a former business partner who has joined the bankruptcy proceedings and filed a separate case against him in the Swiss courts for 40m Swiss francs (£30m).
Mr Becker said he was only speaking out now about the case because he had been too busy to set the record straight earlier. “The verdict came four days before the start of Wimbledon. You must realise this is the most important time of the year for the Boris Becker brand,” he said.
‘If you’re looking for publicity, you hire Boris Becker. Attention guaranteed’