Girls had never been important. I’d had a girlfriend or two and had liked them a lot but it wasn’t love, because my first love was tennis. – Boris Becker
I want to be a hero, a small and good kind of hero, even though I know heroes have very short lives. – Boris Becker
A few years after my first son was born, he wanted to know how we chose his name, so I began reading him the story of Noah’s Ark. – Boris Becker
If I go into a club now, all the blonde girls leave my corner and all the black girls come into my corner. It’s as if I’m racist towards white girls! – Boris Becker
The eyes of some of the fans at Davis Cup matches scare me. There’s no light in them. Fixed emotions. Blind worship. Horror. It makes me think of what happened to us long ago. – Boris Becker
How do you build a relationship when you’ve hardly shared a word but suddenly share a child? How do you love a daughter you don’t see for nearly two years? When does she become your daughter? How does she become your daughter? – Boris Becker
An autobiography is not about pictures; it’s about the stories; it’s about honesty and as much truth as you can tell without coming too close to other people’s privacy. – Boris Becker
It’s silly to say it about a tennis player, but I’m an unbelievable hero in Germany. And Germany needs heroes more than any place. – Boris Becker
I lost in the second round of the French Open and had 10 days off. I went to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was exciting to be away from my parents, to stay in a hotel. Hotels at 17 meant freedom. – Boris Becker
Tennis is a psychological sport, you have to keep a clear head. That is why I stopped playing. – Boris Becker
I was in the tennis bubble. I wasn’t thinking about the big picture. I didn’t notice what they said on television, I wasn’t reading any papers. I had a coach and a manager, and they kept me in the bubble. – Boris Becker
When I was a child, I had posters of James Dean in my room. I was a big admirer of his work and was fascinated by him living on the edge. Looking back, my life was kind of the same. – Boris Becker
I met with my lawyers. They gave me all the wrong advice. For a long time I refused to accept the child was mine. I should have met her, arranged a DNA test and accepted my responsibility. – Boris Becker
I can’t change history, I don’t want to change history. I can only change the future. I’m working on that. – Boris Becker
That’s the hard part about sport: as men we haven’t started to be in our prime, but as athletes we are old people. I needed support. I lost trust and did stupid things. – Boris Becker
