Slimmed down Boris Becker reportedly teaching yoga in prison

Boris Becker is reported to have lost weight and won friends in the UK prison where he is serving a sentence related to his 2017 bankruptcy, according to a German newspaper.

The former Wimbledon champion was transferred from Wandsworth prison to Huntercombe prison near Nuffield, Oxfordshire, in May. In April he was jailed for two and a half years for concealing £2.5m of assets to avoid paying money he owed after his bankruptcy.

The tabloid Bild, quoting a source close to Becker, said the 54-year-old had been training regularly in the prison fitness studio and had given up alcohol, which is banned. The source said he had lost about 8kg (1st 3lb).

Becker is also working as an assistant alongside the prison coach for fitness and psychology, drawing on his experience as a former world No 1 tennis champion, Bild reported.

According to the source, Becker is teaching about 45 fellow inmates in fitness, nutrition and crisis management at the prison, which has a sports complex with a climbing wall, an astroturf pitch and a cardiovascular fitness room.

Becker is also said to be instructing other prisoners in a “special type of yoga and meditation”, the source told the paper. “As a sportsman, he knows only too well the highs and lows of victories and defeats. He is sharing his life experience with his fellow prisoners.”

Becker’s position is reportedly connected to a bonus programme run at HMP Huntercombe, a category C – low-security – men’s prison, in which prisoners can earn extra privileges. He was transferred to the prison in mid-May this year and reportedly has his own cell.

Huntercombe is used to detain criminals from abroad, indicating that Becker, who has lived in the UK since 2012, will probably be deported from the UK at