As a 7 year old kid growing up in a small town, my knowledge of tennis was as little as Mallika Sherawat’s liking for clothes. The only name that I had heard of in Tennis was John McEnroe, and that too, from my elder brother, who was just as ignorant about tennis as I was. In fact, we used to play badminton in front of our house, with both of us fighting to be proclaimed ’’John McEnroe’’.
However, one evening in 1985 changed it all. Since those were the days when most houses didn’t have TVs, and the houses that had TV had only Doordarshan, channel surfing was a word that wasn’t even coined back then. And so, since the customary Sunday Hindi Movie on DD was cancelled due to some goddamn Wimbledon Tennis Match, we were all forced to sit and watch two white players play badminton with a ’’coated’’ rubber ball. What ensued made me a lifelong tennis lover. And a loyal fan of a freckle-faced, 17 year old German with a weird service action.
’’Boom Boom Baby’’ had arrived.
As the youngest Wimbledon Champion, the 17 year old Boris Becker was an instant hit with both young audiences and the old. After defeating Kevin Curren in 4 sets for the Wimbledon crown in 1985, Becker displayed more heroics in the Davis Cup later that year, leading West Germany all the way to the finals before losing to the golden quartet from Sweden (Wilander, Edberg, Jarryd, Nystrom). In the Davis Cup finals, Becker won both his singles matches against Edberg and Wilander, and was unfortunate to end up on the losing side.
If there were still some detractors who thought Becker was just a flash in the pan, they were firmly silenced by a marauding Becker who won Wimbledon again in 1986, beating Ivan Lendl convincingly. Along with his on-court conquests, his popularity began to soar to unscalable heights. People from all over the world had begun to idolize this teenager from Munich who had captured their imaginations. Becker, on his part, played to the media very nicely, further cementing his position as one of the most popular sportsmen in the world.
In 1988, Becker again reached the Wimbledon Finals after a forgettable 1st round exit the previous year. However, his rival Stefan Edberg proved too good for Boris that year. This was the beginning of one of the greatest rivalries in Tennis history. Becker and Edberg fought for the Wimbledon title 3 consecutive years (1988-1990) with Edberg winning in 1988 and 1990. Becker, however, added the US Open crown to his Wimbledon title in 1989 thereby rounding off a very successful year on the tour.
However, he had to wait till 1991 to reach the most-coveted No.1 Ranking on the ATP tour. After beating Ivan Lendl for the Australian Open title in 1991, Becker took over as the No.1 player in the world for the first time in his career. However, due to his shortcomings on clay, he couldn’t hold on to the ranking for too long, and promptly handed it back to Stefan Edberg in 3 weeks. Later that year, he lost the Wimbledon Finals to fellow German Michael Stitch in a very disappointing match.
After 1991, Becker was no longer one of the dominant forces in Men’s tennis anymore, thanks to the emergence of one Pete Sampras who would go on to become a legend. It took Boris 5 more years to capture his next and last Grand Slam. Boris defeated Chang in 1996 to capture his second Australian Open crown, and his 6th career Grand Slam title.
Many would think of Boris Becker as a player who never realized his complete potential due to his error prone temperament. Players like Edberg and Courier, who were not considered as talented as Boris, surpassed him to the No 1 ranking. Boris’ dislike for clay court also added to his being branded a one-dimensional player. Surprisingly for a player ranked consistently in the top 3 for most of his career, Boris Becker never won a single ATP tournament on Clay.
However, despite all his shortcomings, Boris Becker will always be remembered for his ’’spirit’’. No other player managed to capture the imagination of audiences worldwide like Boris did. His free-spirited stroke play, the booming serves, the clumsy-yet-cute diving retrieves- they all added to the camaraderie that made Boris Becker the crowd’s favorite.
His expertise on the Wimbledon grass made him one of the most successful players at All-England Championships. He also has a great record in the Davis Cup, where he led Germany to successive triumphs in 1988 and 1989.
Career Highlights:
3 times Wimbledon winner (1985, 1986, 1989), 4 time Wimbledon Runner-up (1988, 1990, 1991, 1995)
2 times Australian Open Winner (1991, 1996)
1 time US Open Winner (1989)
2 times Davis Cup Winner (1988, 1989)
1 time ATP World Championship winner (1992)
Held the ATP World No 1 Ranking for 12 weeks in 1991.