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"Responsible for his humiliation remains the failed businessman Boris Becker alone"
Photo: Frank Augstein/AP
Former tennis star Boris Becker has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for delaying bankruptcy.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Deborah Taylor said it was remarkable that Becker had shown "no remorse" or "acknowledgment" of his guilt.
"You have shown no humility," she said.
The international press is also harsh on the unteachable:
ENGLAND
»The Sun«
: »Serving time – Tennis star Boris Becker faces two and a half years in prison after hiding millions of pounds during his 2017 bankruptcy.«
»Daily Mail«
: »Boris Becker and a crash like no other: An insatiable appetite for women, houses, cars and the life of luxury.
Now, fatal business mistakes and fatal arrogance have resulted in the Wimbledon star facing a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence."
ITALY
»Gazzetta dello Sport«
: »Becker will no longer watch the world through a tennis net, but through the bars of an English prison.
The tennis prodigy struggled as an adult.
Scandals, debts and bankruptcy: Becker's reputation is ruined.«
»Corriere della Sera«
: »On Judgment Day, Boris Becker wears the Wimbledon tie with the green and purple stripes, symbol of a glorious time swept away by years and many mistakes.
Scandals and love affairs, falls and resurrections: Becker's life on the roller coaster is now ending in prison.«
»La Repubblica«
: »The deep fall of Boris Becker: The King of Wimbledon ends up in the Queen's prison.
Thus falls a phenomenon without peer of tennis, which has not found balance outside the court.
The Wimbledon tie Becker wears in court is like a tombstone to his fabulous career of excess, decline and regret.”
»Corriere dello Sport«
: »Fatal London for Boris Becker: His career, which began in Wimbledon in 1985 at the age of 17, ended yesterday in the Palace of Justice on the banks of the Thames.
The tie with the colors of Wimbledon brought him no luck.
In his cell, Becker will be able to think about the strategy for the restart.
He is not lacking in genius.”
AUSTRIA
»Der Standard«
: »Luckily for the 54-year-old, neither laziness nor stupidity are criminal offences.
Otherwise Becker would have had to reckon with a much longer deprivation of liberty.
[...] The fact that he now has to get to know an English prison from the inside is certainly tragic.
But the failed businessman alone is responsible for his humiliation.«
USA
»New York Times«
: »The verdict marks a startling fall from grace for Boris Becker.
His tennis talent, bubbly personality and business aspirations had made him a fortune to this point.”
SWITZERLAND
»Neuer Zürcher Zeitung«
: »It is the low point of a career that has gone completely out of control.«
»Blick«
: »The process of delaying insolvency is the result of decades of luxury life, but also ignorance and mismanagement.«
SPAIN
»Marca«
: »The fate of Boris Becker.
As judge Deborah Taylor argued in her verdict, the culprit did not learn the lesson of a similar trial in Germany in 2002.
The question will also be whether he could succeed with an objection.«
»As«
: »Two and a half years in prison for the world number one in the 1980s and 1990s.
This Friday, right after the verdict was announced, he was put in the detention cell.
Life was a mess as far as his personal aspects were concerned.
He also looks visually battered, which leaves a trace on him.«
"Mundo Deportivo"
: "Boris Becker didn't know how to manage his fortune.
Now he has to go to prison for two and a half years.«
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