Boris Becker was in prison for eight months for tax offences. After his release, the tennis legend is now conducting his first interview on German television and is open and remorseful. Despite poor ratings, the honesty is well received by the audience.
After his release from prison, tennis legend Boris Becker answered questions on Tuesday evening on Sat.1. The three-time Wimbledon winner showed himself to be a reflected and refined person who has gained numerous new insights into life. In the social networks, the reactions to Becker's first big TV interview with Steven Gätjen are mostly positive. For example, a user writes: "Had no real expectations, but Boris Becker clearly wins respect again with this appearance".
Numerous commentators and viewers of the Sat.1 interview also responded to Becker's changed appearance after his prison stay. "Boris Becker looks good, his health seems to have recovered (...) Boris Becker also has a chance to continue his life. He has served his sentence. Done," says a Twitter user, for example, while from elsewhere it is noted that Becker, who claims to have lost several kilos, "looks younger and fitter after seven months in British jail than years in freedom".
Numerous users also commented on Becker's official Instagram channel under the last photo posted by the star on March 20: "Now I see a Boris who is smart, emotional, mature, self-reflective, perfect in terms of language/content and considers, actually wise, likeable shows itself". Another user adds: "This is a very open, honest interview (...) You also look really good and healthy and a few years younger".
Critical and humorous voices can of course also be found among the network reactions. For example, a user writes: "With Boris Becker, it sounds as if he had been led to the electronic chair on death row. What a drama queen". Another adds: "It was only seven months and not ten years. Apart from that, if he hadn't cheated, he wouldn't have broken in (...) It's that simple". Still others humorously consider going to jail themselves for health reasons: "Anyway, I'm considering going to jail for health reasons."
For Sat.1, the exclusive interview with Becker did not pay off particularly well in terms of quota. On average, just 1.55 million people (5.8 percent) wanted to see the special on Tuesday evening. That's around 200,000 to 300,000 more viewers than the private broadcaster usually gets with the crime series "Navy CIS" in the same slot. However, significantly more - 5.2 million - tuned into the Becker interview and then continued zapping after a short time, as the industry service dwdl.de and AGF Videoforschung explained.
In his interview, the 55-year-old spoke openly about his eight-month stay in the two English prisons of Huntercombe and Wandsworth. "Suddenly I was just a number. I was lonely. I went to bed hungry. I prayed every day, went to church every day," reported Becker with a trembling voice.
He was "scared" about two things, Becker continued: "Before a double cell and before going to the shower." He was also "blackmailed" by a fellow prisoner. "In Wandsworth, someone even wanted to kill me." But there were also rays of hope: At some point, the father of four worked “successfully” as a “gym trainer, teacher of math and English and a philosopher of Stoicism”. He also conceded, "Of course I was guilty!"
