From Centre Court to the Finca: Becker Tells of Downfall, Imprisonment, and Mallorca

Between Tennis Legend and Everyday Life on Mallorca

Those who walk here on the island often may have heard of the former Becker finca near Artà. In his new book Inside, the former Wimbledon champion opens the door to memories that go far beyond courts and trophies. Not a glossy PR portrait, he says himself, but rather a report from a time when much was turned on its head.

The finca as retreat — and later as a problem

In 1997 Becker bought a large estate in the northeast of Mallorca: several bedrooms, a meditation room, a pool, lots of land around. Planned as a retreat. Years later the house became a legal construction site: questions from authorities, money shortages, changes of ownership. One could say the finca has a history as volatile as the owner's career.

From hotel room to cell

A chapter that sounds especially hard in the book is his time in prison in England. He describes the first night there, the switch from celebrity daily life to cell routines, and the feeling of suddenly being really at the bottom. He does not name names or numbers in public, but the experience has changed him, as he says. Lilian, his partner, is described as an important support — someone who brought calm when everything else was loud.

After several months of imprisonment and deportation to Germany, Becker is said to have taken away less possessions, but more insight. Sounds melodramatic? Maybe. But anyone sitting at the harbor in Palma knows this mix of resignation and defiance when someone talks about mistakes and still plans ahead.

Still a figure on Mallorca

Even today he remains visible on the island: at cultural events, at openings, or at the ATP tournament in Santa Ponça. In the book as in conversations he emphasizes that the island was more than a real estate project for him — it is a place with people who matter to him. Recently, he says, he visited his son Noah's exhibition in a small gallery in Palma and was pleased about the family ties.

Whether the finca is now in new ownership or not — currently the estate belongs to a South German entrepreneur who promised quiet and care — remains for some fans a Becker's myth. For others, it is a reminder of how quickly success and problems go hand in hand.

In the end, Inside reads like the account of a life in which victories, falls, and second chances lie close together. And for us island residents: a reminder that even big names here have ordinary, complicated stories.