💾 Archived View for commacat.xyz › posts › tennis › boris-becker.gmi captured on 2021-12-04 at 18:04:22. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2021-11-30)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Boris Becker was a child prodigy who became Wimbledon's youngest ever champion at age 17 in 1985. He was famous for a powerful serve, forehand and aggressive netplay. Born in West Germany in 1967, Becker grew up on claycourts, but grass became his favourite surface, well suited to his power game. Wimbledon's Centre Court became his private domain, and he dominated the tournament until Pete Sampras' first of seven titles in 1993.
Amazingly he defended his title in 1986, beating world number one Ivan Lendl in the final. The tennis world was shocked in 1987, when the two time defending champion and tournament favourite was beaten by the unheralded but talented Peter Doohan of Australia in the second round. Becker famously said afterwards that "he didn't lose a war, nobody died". It was just a tennis match.
1988 saw a return to the final where he lost a rain delayed four setter to Sweden's Stefan Edberg. This was the start of a trilogy of finals with the Swede through to 1990. Becker triumphed in 1989, with a straight sets beatdown of his great foe in what many would regard as his best performance in a Wimbledon final. This was to prove his third and last triumph. He was lacklustre in the 1990 final against Edberg, sleepwalking through the first two sets before staging a comeback. He ultimately lost in five sets despite holding a winning position in the final set.
He returned to the final for the fourth straight time in 1991 but was beaten by compatriot Michael Stich in a one sided match. Becker was irritable and frustrated throughout, but nothing could take away from Stich's brilliant play. He played out of his mind in the biggest match of his career in the cathedral of tennis. More disappointment would follow for Becker in the following years.
Becker was beaten by eventual winner Andre Agassi in 1992 at the quarter final stage. He made his seventh and final Wimbledon final appearance in 1995, losing to Pete Sampras in four sets. This was the true changing of the guard. Sampras celebrated his third sucessive championship and Becker was never seen in the final again. Becker played his last Wimbledon in 1999, losing in the fourth round to Australia's Pat Rafter.