Tennis champion Boris Becker has been declared bankrupt – by a court official who watched him play on Centre Court.
Lawyers for the three-time Wimbledon winner pleaded with a Bankruptcy Court registrar in London on Wednesday for “a last chance” to pay a long-standing debt.
But Miss Registrar Christine Derrett, who recalled watching him play, said it was “with regret” she had concluded there was a lack of credible evidence that his “substantial” debt would be paid soon and she refused to adjourn the case for a further 28 days.
She announced after a brief hearing: “I make this bankruptcy order at 11.23am.”
Boris Becker celebrating at SW19. (EMPICS)
She said of Becker: “One has the impression of a man with his head in the sand.”
The bankruptcy application was made by private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co in connection with a judgment debt owed them by Becker dating as far back as 2015.
Becker’s lawyers had argued there was sufficient evidence to show that the tennis ace would be able to pay the debt soon through a refinancing arrangement, involving remortgaging a property in Majorca, which was expected to raise six million euros.
His advocate told the registrar his instructions from Becker were that it was expected the deal would be approved by a Spanish bank in approximately one month.
Becker has been Novak Djokovic’s coach. (Steve Paston/PA)
The advocate said: “I don’t want to play around in court. It is clearly in the interests (of Arbuthnot Latham) for there to be refinancing.”
When the registrar was told that Becker was a television commentator, she replied that she knew who he was, adding: “I remember watching him play on Centre Court, which probably shows my age.”
His advocate, John Briggs, told the registrar that someone in Becker’s position would not be prone to benefit from bankruptcy and it was likely to have an adverse effect on his “image”.
The judge said: “He should have thought about that a long time ago.”
She added: “It is not often the case that a professional person has a judgment (debt) outstanding against them since October 2015. This is a historic debt.
“One has the impression of a man with his head in the sand.”
Mr Briggs said: “He is not a sophisticated individual when it comes to finances.
“I am asking for a real last chance for Mr Becker to come good … It has just taken longer than anticipated.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel