German tennis icon and former world number one Boris Becker arrived in Delhi today on Friday at the launch of the Puma Boris Becker collection of sneakers, where he spoke about various things – including his three-year stint as coach of Novak Djokovic, during which the Serb enjoyed huge successes.
“We had a wonderful time together,” said Becker, who made history in 1985 by becoming the youngest ever Wimbledon champion at the age of 17.
“We literally won every tournament there was to win. There is a time when everything is done and unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. So we bid farewell to each other and I have only good things to say about the last three years. I hope Novak has only good things to say too!” joked the six-time Grand Slam winner.
When asked about the future of German tennis and why there hasn't been a champion like him from the country so far, Becker pointed towards the mercurial rise of 19-year old Alexander Zverev, who is currently ranked 24 on the ATP Tour and became the youngest ever player to enter the top 20 rankings in October.
“We have high hopes from Sascha (his nickname) and if all goes well, he can make the top 10 in the near future. It is extremely hard to enter such an exclusive club but hopefully he can continue winning more and all of us back in Germany expect big things from him,” said the German legend.
The German also went down memory lane, remembering his childhood days and how his mother hoped he didn’t win too many matches so that he would leave tennis and study in a college. Becker stated that in the early 1980s, professional sport was not that developed in Germany and due to his family’s middle-class background, a career in sport was not a comfortable choice.
“I had to skip two years of schooling to focus on my tennis. Thankfully, I kept on winning one tournament after another and was able to carve out a place for myself,” quipped Becker.
He was questioned about how fashions and players’ clothes have evolved in the sport over time, to which Becker said that in his day, the shirts were much tighter and the shorts much shorter.
“Tennis was a ‘white’ sport, in the sense that everyone used to wear white clothes. T-shirts, shorts, socks and shoes – all white. It was Agassi (Andre) who added colour to the sport. He was way ahead of his time in that respect!”, he said.
