Boris Becker's love child speaks out after shock prison sentence
Boris Becker's daughter Anna Ermakova has spoken out following the tennis legend's shock prison sentence following his bankruptcy trial.
The man who thrilled fans on the tennis court in the 1980s and 90s appeared in a court of law on Saturday to receive a two-and-a-half year sentence.
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The 54-year-old was convicted earlier this month of four charges under Britain's Insolvency Act, including failing to disclose, concealing and removing significant assets.
These included failing to declare a $2.3m property in his hometown of Leimen, Germany, and hiding a $1.2m bank loan and 75,000 shares in a tech firm.
Judge Deborah Taylor said the six-time grand slam champion had shown no remorse or acceptance of guilt and would have to serve half his sentence behind bars and the remainder on licence.
Ermakova, who Becker fathered during a brief sexual encounter in London's Nobu restaurant in 1999 while his then-wife Barbara Feltus was pregnant with their second child, has hit out at the sentence.
“I’m really in shock that my father has been sentenced to two years and six months," she told German newspaper Bild.
"I will support him and I will visit him whenever I can. I hope that will help him a little to get through the time."
The 22-year-old said it was "not fair” that her 12-year-old half-brother would have to be without his father.
“I wrote a letter to the court to express my concern for my little half-brother, Amadeus,” she said.
“After all, he is only 12 and will now have to do without a father figure, whom he will lack during a difficult phase of his development.
"It’s not fair to him. It’s going to be tough for Amadeus.”
Becker infamously fathered Ermakova with her mother Angela in a closet at Nobu restaurant.
Writing in his autobiography 'Hold On, Stay a While, Becker said: “She (Ermakova) left her table for the toilet.
“I followed behind … five minutes small talk and then straight away into the nearest possible place and down to business.”
Becker and Feltus then divorced in 2001, reportedly costing the tennis legend $20 million in cash, as well as his main family home in Miami and $3.5 million in legal fees.
Boris Becker's staggering fall from grace
Becker was cleared of 20 other charges, including nine counts of failing to hand over trophies and medals he won during his career.
In 2018 he claimed diplomatic immunity from the bankruptcy proceedings by saying he had been appointed sports envoy to the European Union for Central African Republic and had received a passport at an official ceremony.
However Becker had never visited the country, whose foreign minister later said the passport was a "clumsy fake" and launched an enquiry.
Becker, who earned about $70 million during a career that ended in 1999, had been given a suspended jail term and hefty fine for tax evasion by a court in Munich in 2002.
The sentence was the latest bombshell in the life of a sporting superstar whose love life and financial problems have generated as many headlines in recent years as his athletic prowess ever did.
Much of his fortune disappeared as a result of his tax problems, while continuing to maintain a lavish lifestyle, some dubious investments and the multi-million dollar divorce settlement with first wife Barbara.
with Reuters
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