Bankrupt Becker gets prison term

Boris Becker, the six-time Grand Slam tennis champion, was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison Friday in his bankruptcy case after he was found guilty by a London court of hiding millions of dollars’ worth of assets and loans to avoid paying his debts.

The sentence punctuated a startling fall from grace for Becker, 54, who parlayed his tennis skill, ebullient personality and business ambitions into a personal fortune before he was found guilty this month at Southwark Crown Court of four charges related to his June 2017 bankruptcy.

In announcing the sentence, the judge told Becker, who was previously convicted of tax evasion two decades ago, that “while I accept your humiliation as part of the proceedings, there has been no humility,” news agencies reported.

Becker failed to disclose a property he owned in his home country of Germany, concealed a loan of 825,000 euros (around $872,000) and assets valued at 426,930.90 euros, and did not disclose shares owned in a gambling tech firm, according to Britain’s Insolvency Service.

Becker made tennis history in 1985 when at 17 he became the youngest champion in the history of men’s singles at Wimbledon.

In 2002, Becker was convicted in Germany of income tax evasion, given two years’ probation and fined nearly $300,000.

Collins, Osaka advance at Madrid: Former No. 1 Naomi Osaka kicked off her clay season with a comfortable straight-sets win over qualifier Anastasia Potapova in the first round of the Madrid Open.

Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins won the last eight games to advance 7-5, 6-0 over

Monica Puig, the Olympic gold medalist in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Seventh-seeded Garbine Muguruza, one of the home-crowd favorites, defeated Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-2.