Becker troubled since tennis retirement

Boris Becker is blaming his well publicized troubles on adjusting to life after tennis.

The tennis star, who retired in 1999, is under investigation for tax evasion, went through a messy divorce with his wife Barbara and fathered a child with a Russian model.

The three-time Wimbledon winner, one of the sport's most popular players, also has had numerous business ventures fail since he hung up his racket.

In a long interview in the weekly magazine Stern, Becker said it all has to with attempting to reconstruct his life since his retirement.

"I've gotten involved in a lot of things so that I didn't have to deal with reality. I was running away, trying to start the day as early as possible, never let myself rest and then fall into bed exhausted without thinking," said Becker, who turns 34 on Thursday.

Becker says he's learning to slow down and has started to work on solving his problems, helped by a now friendly relationship with ex-wife Barbara.

The German-American former model has lived with the couple's sons Noah and Elias in Florida since the January divorce.

"Both of us, in the meantime, have understood that we're not the most important people in the house -- but Noah and Elias," Becker said.

Becker has been linked to numerous women since the divorce, generating constant headlines for the German tabloids, but claims family life is actually his ideal.

"If everything is right at home, then I can go out and fight. I'm missing that at the moment, that's why the world doesn't see me at my strongest," he said. "I wouldn't say I'm looking, but maybe I'm waiting for an opportunity."

Becker has yet to see the daughter he had with Russian model Angela Ermakova, the result of a one-night stand in London during Wimbledon in 1999.

The child, Anna, is 20-months old.

"If I did, the mother would be first to publicize it," he said. "The moment will -- it has to -- come when I see my daughter, but then in private.

"At the start I cried because of this stuff but, meanwhile, I can laugh about myself."

Becker says the liaison with Ermakova, which the Russian model claims took place in a broom closet of a trendy Japanese restaurant, came during a troubled time.

His father Karl-Heinz died and a few months later he went ahead and played Wimbledon -- the scene of his biggest on-court triumphs.

"I let myself be talked into playing Wimbledon one last time," Becker said. "When my father died, I felt this huge hole.

"I couldn't make sense of anything anymore."

Since his retirement, Germans have seen Becker as a little lost, unlike the country's other tennis idol, Steffi Graf.

Graf has married Andre Agassi and had a son since she quit the game.

She rarely generates any headlines outside of those inevitable with a celebrity marriage.

"How Steffi and Andre are pulling it through is remarkable," Becker said. "First marriage, then the baby, then they release a picture and now all is quiet.

"But then Andre was crazy about Steffi for a long time, he was a little in love with her even during other relationships."

Becker refuses to talk about his tax evasion case, with German authorities seeking 30 million marks ($21.5 million Cdn) in back taxes.

During his tennis days from 1985 to 1993, he resided in tax haven Monaco, but investigators maintain his business was conducted in Germany and he has to pay taxes in the country.

That hasn't been Becker's only business problem.

Among his failed business ventures are an Internet sports site and a marketing company.

"I think, I didn't allow myself enough time to do nothing. I was mixed up, I was very sad. I never got over the pain of losing my father," he said.

Becker said he hopes that Barbara will appear at his door to celebrate his 34th birthday.

"Oh, that would be the best surprise," Becker said. "I've never doubted my love for her.

"I've just been so caught up in dramas and problems that I had to figure that out."

By Roy Kammerer