From 'Boom Boom' to bust, Becker must now serve time

LONDON : Boris Becker's thunderous delivery earned him the nickname 'Boom Boom' as a 17-year-old Wimbledon winner in 1985 but on Friday, aged 54 and bust, the German great was told he must serve time in prison.

Three times a champion on the grass courts of south-west London, the man who thrilled tennis fans in the 1980s and 90s appeared in a court of law to receive a two-and-a-half year sentence.

Becker was convicted earlier this month of four charges under Britain's Insolvency Act, including failing to disclose, concealing and removing significant assets following a bankruptcy trial.

Judge Deborah Taylor said the six-times Grand Slam winner had shown no remorse or acceptance of guilt and would have to serve half his sentence behind bars and the remainder on licence.

Becker, who earned $25 million in prize money and many times more in sponsorship 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.

This time there was to be no escape.

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 a multi-million dollar divorce settlement with first wife Barbara in 2001.

In 1999 he fathered a child with a Russian model, Angela Ermakova, after a brief sexual encounter in London's Nobu restaurant while his wife was pregnant with their second child.

The polish of his post-playing life as a BBC television tennis commentator, and a spell as coach to world number one Novak Djokovic,