Boris Becker has hinted at a possible Wimbledon return, after the legendary tennis ace missed the previous two championships because of a prison sentence. The three-time Wimbledon winner spent eight months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence behind bars, but has revealed he hopes to be back in SW19 for the 2025 edition.

Becker was sent to prison for bankruptcy offences in April 2022, but was released in December of the same year. As a result, the German was handed a travel ban by the UK authorities and hasn’t been present at Wimbledon ever since - something he hopes to change next year.

Speaking about his presence at the tournament, Becker revealed: “I very much hope so. Not this year but we’re working on 2025.

“It’s been my favourite tournament as a player, coach and commentator. It’s unique, you can’t compare it. I lived in Wimbledon for a long time so I’m working hard with the authorities to have all the applications ready to be back for next year.”

Becker was a familiar face in the BBC’s commentary box, and when quizzed on whether he’ll return as a pundit, Becker replied by saying: “I hope so.”

The length of Becker’s travel ban has never been revealed. As per The Guardian, a Home Office spokesperson said in April 2023: “Any foreign national who has been convicted of a crime and deported is prohibited from returning for as long as the deportation order made against them remains in force.”

It has now been over a year since Becker was released from prison, but the nine-time Grand Slam winner believes the experience fundamentally changed him. Speaking last year, he told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast: “Whoever says that prison life isn’t hard and isn’t difficult, I think is lying. It was a very brutal … a very, very different experience to what you see in the movies, what you’ve heard from stories.

“You fight every day for survival. Quickly, you have to surround yourself with the tough boys, as I would call it, because you need protection. I’m a survivor; I’m a tough cookie. I’ve taken the incarceration, but I’ve also taken the glory and if anything this made me a stronger, better man.”

He added: “If anything, it certainly humbled me. It certainly made me realise that whether you’re called Boris Becker or Paul Smith, if you break the law, you get convicted and you get incarcerated; that goes for everybody.”