Boris Becker has explained why he “had to be crazy” during his time on the tennis tour. The retired German player burst onto the scene when he lifted his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon as a 17-year-old. But it took him a very long time to reach the top of the rankings.
After becoming the world No. 2 as a teenager, more than four years passed before Becker finally closed the gap with his long-time rival Ivan Lendl and got to world No. 1. And he has now reflected on the agonising wait to ascend to the top of tennis.
Becker enjoyed a Hall of Fame tennis career, winning multiple Grand Slam titles and climbing to the top of the rankings. The German was a quick learner – his Wimbledon 1985 title win was just his fifth appearance in the main draw of a Major tournament.
But it took much longer for Becker to earn the coveted No. 1 ranking. He first reached the No. 2 position in September 1986 when he was still only 18 years old. However, he was made to wait four and a half years to finally make it one step further.
Becker faced Lendl in the 1991 Australian Open final, with the world No. 1 ranking also on the line. He finally reached the summit, winning in four sets, and ultimately spent 12 weeks at the top.
Decades later, the 57-year-old reflected on his journey to becoming world No. 1 and admitted that he needed to have the right mentality.
“You have to be a little bit crazy, a little bit egotistic in the sense that your life is tennis,” the retired star told the ATP.
“To be willing to do what it takes, your whole life has to be about tennis. There can’t be anything [more] important than winning the next tennis match.
“To keep that intensity for a long time is difficult, but I think we all have this crazy mentality of doing what it takes to win the match. It’s a great achievement, whether it’s one week, 12 weeks, or 350 weeks.”
Becker also got candid about the painful four-and-a-half-year wait to dethrone Lendl. He continued: “I was 18 years old when I became No. 2 in September of 1986.
“I was a double Wimbledon champion, I thought my world was perfect, but there was a guy called Ivan Lendl, who was always ahead of me.
“I didn’t think I was going to need four and a half years more to reach the summit of Mount Everest. What was so difficult to make that next step?
“Finally I got him in 1991, when I beat him in the final of the Australian Open. He was No. 1, I was No. 2, I knew I had to win that match to get the final hurdle, and it was very satisfying.”
To this day, Becker still enjoys his status as a former world No. 1. Last year, he got the chance to present Jannik Sinner with the official ATP No. 1 trophy.
“Looking back, I was very honoured to present the No. 1 trophy to Jannik Sinner and to be part of this No. 1 Club,” he added.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk