Boris Becker

  • Date of birth: 22 November 1967
  • Birthplace: Leimen, Germany
  • Residence: Schwyz, Switzerland
  • Height: 6'3'' (1.90 m)
  • Weight: 190 lbs (85 kg)
  • Plays: Right-handed; one-handed backhand


Boris Franz Becker was born 22 November 1967 and is a former World No. 1. He is a six-time Grand Slam singles champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17. Tennis Magazine put Becker in 18th place on its list of the 40 greatest tennis players from 1965 to 2005. Since he retired from the professional tour, media work and his personal life have kept him in the headlines.

As a teenager, Becker won his first top-level singles title in June 1985 at Queen's Club and then, two weeks later on 7 July, became the first unseeded player and the first German to win the Wimbledon singles title, defeating Kevin Curren in four sets. At the time, he was the youngest ever male Grand Slam singles champion at 17 years, 7 months (a record later broken by Michael Chang in 1989, who won the French Open when he was 17 years, 3 months). Two months after his triumph, Becker became the youngest winner of the tournament in Cincinnati.

Over the course of his career, Becker won 49 singles titles and 15 doubles titles. Besides his six Grand Slam titles, he was also a singles winner in the year-ending Masters / ATP Tour World Championships in 1988, 1992, and 1995, and at the Grand Slam Cup in 1996. He won a record-equalling four singles titles at London's Queen's Club. In Davis Cup, his career win-loss record was 54–12, including 38–3 in singles. He also won the other two major international team titles playing for Germany – the Hopman Cup (in 1995) and the World Team Cup (in 1989 and '98).

In 2003, Becker was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He occasionally plays on the senior tour and in World Team Tennis, he is also sometimes a commentator at Wimbledon for the BBC.