John McEnroe: I’ll visit Boris Becker in prison while working at Wimbledon

John McEnroe says he is saddened over his former rival’s financial difficulties and plans to use a trip to England for Wimbledon to visit him.

Becker and McEnroe together in 2016, where they were honoured by Queen’s Club as multiple champions of the London tournament.

John McEnroe has said that he is hoping to visit Boris Becker in prison during Wimbledon after expressing sadness over his former rival’s financial difficulties.

Becker, the six-times grand-slam champion from Germany, is serving a 2 and a half-year sentence in Huntercombe Prison, near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. In April he was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act, which included hiding pounds 2.5 million worth of assets and loans to avoid debts.

McEnroe, right, congratulates Becker after the Baron von Cramm Trophy at the center court in Hamburg-Rothenbaum, northern Germany. Picture: AP

McEnroe, who will be commentating on Wimbledon for the BBC, plans to make the 55-mile journey from southwest London to see Becker, 54, in prison. “Boris is a friend of mine,” McEnroe said. “This is just horrible. I want to see him if I possibly can and if he’s willing to see people. I just feel terrible. He’s one of the great players that ever played the game. He’s been going through a lot for a long time. He kept telling me it’s going to be OK, it’s under control. That’s Boris. He was a very confident player on the court. But sometimes you’re not necessarily a great investor, you don’t take care of your money off the court.”

McEnroe, 63, and Becker played each other on the tour on ten occasions, from 1985 to 1992 - Becker won eight of those matches - before becoming colleagues at the BBC. The American, a three-times Wimbledon winner, said that he was stunned when the verdict was reached and believes that Becker was let down by his associates.

“It shows the importance of having good people around you,” McEnroe said. “It seems like there were some people around him that weren’t helping a lot. I don’t know if any of us anticipated it getting to this point. Obviously he didn’t either because, from what I understand, he was planning on doing some type of press conference a couple of days after the decision was made. It’s a travesty any way you look at it.”

Becker arrives at court for his sentencing hearing alongside his girlfriend Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro in April this year. Picture: Getty Images

Meanwhile almost a year on from the furore over comments he made about Emma Raducanu’s retirement during her Wimbledon round-of-16 clash with Ajla Tomljanovic, McEnroe insisted he had no regrets. The BBC pundit was heavily criticised for saying the British teenager, then 18, found it “a little too much”. She could be seen struggling to breathe before she left the court early in the second set, leaving her Australian opponent to claim victory by walkover.

“I wouldn’t say anything different,” McEnroe said. “I was giving an educated guess as to what I thought was happening, based on 45 years of being around the professional game. It’s not like she’s the first person it’s happened to. Especially with mental health coming more to the forefront. When I was playing, you were supposed to grit your teeth, bear it and tough it out. Now it’s more of a discussion point, and rightfully so.”

Raducanu has been through three coaches since winning the US Open in September but McEnroe defended her decisions. “I don’t think it’s a bad idea to try to find the right mix,” he said. “That might take some time. She’s a kid, she’s trying to grow up in front of the world, and that can be difficult.”

The Times