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Boris Becker was unhappy with an oversight that the social media handle of the BNP Paribas Open made while acknowledging back-to-back champions in their tournament's history. Becker has been backed by a large section of fans who have hit out at the apparent disrespect meted out to him.
Carlos Alcaraz's Indian Wells title defense was successful this week, as he defeated Daniil Medvedev 7-6(5), 6-1 to secure his fifth ATP Masters 1000 triumph. More importantly, the Spaniard joined Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Lleyton Hewitt and Michael Chang as the only players to win consecutive titles at the Palm Springs event.
However, the social media handle of the tournament seemingly omitted the German's name in their now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), where they gave a nod to past back-to-back winners at Indian Wells. The seven-time Major winner subsequently corrected them, reposting their statistic with the caption:
"And me… 87/88."
A large section of fans took exception to the above oversight. One fan insinuated that the handler of the BNP Paribas Open social media account may not have been old enough to have witnessed his 1987-88 title run in the Californian desert.
"@TheBorisBecker Damn Boris totally getting forgotten... Don't take it too harsh Boris... the person doing social media for the @BNPPARIBASOPEN probably wasn't born when you won back to backs," they wrote.
Another fan, meanwhile, alluded to the tennis universe's lack of respect for Boris Becker and his career achievements.
"@TheBorisBecker What’s up with this disrespect from the Tennis Community? Geezzzz!!!!" they wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from social media:
Boris Becker won back-to-back Indian Wells titles before the inception of the ATP Masters 1000 series
Having turned pro in 1984, Boris Becker had no trouble finding his feet on the ATP Tour, winning Wimbledon the next year at the age of 17. The young German would continue his winning ways the following year, defending his title at SW19 successfully.
Becker also won three other big titles in 1986 — in Toronto, Cincinnati and Tokyo. At the time, the highest-level tournaments after the Majors and the year-end championships were collectively called the "Grand Prix Super Series". It was only in 2009 that the ATP Tour revamped the above tournaments to "Masters 1000 Series" status.
The German had a flawless campaign at the 1987 Pilot Pen Classic in Indian Wells, beating archrival Stefan Edberg in straight sets in the championship match. He also didn't drop a single set in his five matches that week.
The 1988 edition of the tournament, branded as the Newsweek Champions Cup, saw the then-two-time Wimbledon titlist pushed to the limit. He overcame a set deficit to beat teen Andre Agassi in the semifinals, before dispatching Spain's Emilio Sanchez in four sets to win his last title in the Californian desert.
