“Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker”: The tennis great as Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde?

“Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker”
The tennis great as Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde?

“How hard is it for a man that young to keep in touch with reality?” That’s the question reporters asked themselves in 1985 when an internationally undocumented tennis club from Leimen, Germany, suddenly conquered Wimbledon. The new two-part AppleTV+ documentary “Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker” (from April 7) about the exceptional athlete is dedicated to his unprecedented rise to number one in the ATP world rankings.

In the context of Becker’s conviction for delaying insolvency in 2022, she also raises the question of whether Becker, now 55 years old, was never really able to restore the supposedly lost contact with reality. With a dual narrative structure and divided into the two sections “Triumph” and “Disaster”, the documentary illuminates the life of its protagonist, which apparently always oscillates between extremes. There is a lot of Dr. Jekyll – but now and then Mr Hyde too.

At an age when normal young people have panic attacks because of the uphill drive in driving school, Becker was 17 on Wimbledon’s Center Court in the final game against veteran Kevin Curren – and triumphed as the first German and the youngest player ever. He secured his legendary status at the latest when he was even able to defend the title the following year.

The first part of the documentary, subtitled “Triumph”, is devoted to Becker’s dazzling past, with a few exceptions that focus on the present – the classic heroic journey of an underdog. But it also provides the basis for the second part called “Disaster”, in which ultimately the conviction for delaying insolvency is discussed. Because feeling invincible, as Becker did in his best form, also opened the door to high spirits – first on and later off the tennis court.

Part two is a long time coming

However, “Disaster” takes a lot of time for this. Contrary to the subtitle, the part of the documentary, which is much longer at almost two hours, initially deals with Becker’s tennis successes. It really only gets down to business in the final 45 minutes, in which finances and family are mostly discussed.

The separation from his first wife Barbara Becker (56)? It wasn’t primarily because of his fling with Angela Ermakova (55), but because of Barbara’s behavior afterwards: “In every discussion, she pulled this joker and said I should shut up: ‘Because if the world knew what you did you would lose anyway.'” He replied, “You’re right, but that’s not the kind of relationship I can have. It’s impossible. I said, ‘Barbara, I think we need a break. “

The circumstances that landed Becker in the crosshairs of the British authorities? “I hold myself responsible for it,” says Becker. At the same time, however, he also indicates that, from his point of view, there are various people who are at least as much to blame for his misery. Becker’s iconic ex-trainer Ion Tiriac (83) sums it up pragmatically at one point in the documentary: “The boy wanted to play” – but at this moment he is not talking about the tennis court, but about the money market. And there it’s teeming with people who only wish you something good on purpose.

Conclusion:

On paper, “Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker” is divided into the rise and fall of tennis greats. In reality, however, the documentary by Alex Gibney (69) is largely devoted to his protagonist’s remarkable career – whether as a player or later as a coach. The final minutes of a total of three and a half hours of material in which Becker’s bankruptcy is actually discussed are supposedly explosive – but primarily from Becker’s point of view.

However, his early release from prison at the end of last year has already given him the opportunity to describe his point of view on this sensitive topic on several occasions. As a result, “Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker” is not able to offer a great and, above all, new insight.

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