[La storia] Becker out of prison, but the ordeal continues

“I’m a survivor, a tough guy.” The former German tennis player Boris Becker he said his time in prison strengthened him and made him a better person. “If anything, he’s made me a better and stronger man,” he added in an interview with Bbc, “Bum Bum Becker”. The German tennis player, 55 years old, was released in the UK in mid-December after spending 231 days behind bars. At the end of April 2022 the former German champion had been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for fraudulent bankruptcy, confined for three months in London’s Wandsworth prison and then transferred to Huntercombe prison, in Oxforshire, where he remained for the last five.

He has to surrender part of his income and cannot enter England

He could leave earlier due to a special regulation for foreign prisoners. However, Becker must continue hand over part of its income to the bankruptcy trustees. Also, for the time being he is not allowed to return to what was his adopted country of England.

“It was a very brutal experience”

“Anyone who says life behind bars isn’t hard and difficult is lying,” Becker said. “It was very brutal, a very different experience from what you see on television and hear through stories,” he said.

“Fight every day to survive”

The former tennis player also said she quickly learned what she needed to protection to face the “tougher guys”. “Fight every day to survive,” she added. Early in her captivity, Becker spent a few weeks in Wandsworth Prison, known for her poor conditions. He was subsequently transferred to Huntercombe, a lower security level.