"How the German soul longed for that woman to be Steffi Graf" - When Boris Becker called out the media's fixation on his dating life & girlfriends

Boris Becker once expressed frustration with the media's focus on his romantic life, especially how Steffi Graf was dragged into it. Becker lamented that his tennis success was overshadowed by the discourse surrounding his dating life.

Becker had a legendary tennis career, winning six Grand Slam titles, reaching the World No. 1 ranking and triumphing at the year-end championships three times. Given his immense success, the German was very frustrated that the press only seemed to care about who he was in a relationship with.

In his 2004 autobiography 'The Player,' Boris Becker bemoaned that his post-match conferences revolved around his dating life, with the media linking him romantically to every woman he came in contact with. He said that the German press and public were especially eager to see him dating compatriot Steffi Graf.

"The press have put a lot of women in bed with me: bankers’ daughters, It girls, TV stars. In post-match press conferences, was I supposed to talk about my love life or my serve? People already knew my score on the court, so I guess it was more interesting to find out how I scored with women instead. And how the German soul longed for that woman to be Steffi from Brühl!" Becker wrote.

Although they were not romantically involved, Becker did write about his "deep feeling of affection" for the former World No. 1. He also disclosed that while he wasn't in love with Graf, she still fascinated him on an intellectual level.

"As a woman, she fascinated me. It wasn't the infantile falling-in-love of a teenager that made me want to get to know Steffi better. It was a deep feeling of affection, an unexpressed understanding between like-minded people who shared the same fate," Becker said.

Steffi Graf eventually married fellow tennis legend Andre Agassi in 2001, and they welcomed two children together. Meanwhile, Boris Becker has been married three times. He tied the knot with German-American model and actress Barbara Feltus in 1993 and they had two sons before divorcing in 2001, after the German had a daughter from an extramarital affair the previous year.

In 2009, Becker married Dutch model Lilly Kerssenberg and they had a son before divorcing in 2018. Subsequently, the six-time Grand Slam champion wed Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro in 2024.

"Every tennis player in our generation liked Steffi Graf" - Boris Becker clarified the true nature of his relationship with compatriot

Steffi Graf and Boris Becker - Source: Getty

In an interview with Der Spiegel in 2009, Boris Becker said that Steffi Graf was widely admired among his fellow ATP players, not just for her incredible tennis talent but also for her looks. Nevertheless, Becker was quick to clarify that he saw the 22-time Grand Slam champion as a sister.

"Every tennis player in our generation liked Steffi Graf: a great woman, great body, sexy, always winning. Everyone in the dressing room thought Steffi was hot," Becker said. "And when you know someone for so long, it automatically becomes a brother-sister relationship," Becker said.

Becker and Graf were acquainted since childhood, having trained together at a sports center in Germany. They often even competed against each other until Graf refused to play with him after suffering a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 loss.

Boris Becker once also described himself and Steffi Graf as "comrades in arms" because they could intimately understand the pressure the other was under as the two biggest tennis stars of their country.