Boris Becker: "When I hear players complaining about pressure, I laugh... It means nothing compared to spending time in prison"

Boris Becker is not a big fan of players these days who complain about the things they have to deal with on the tennis tour. The German is of the opinion that all these difficulties are nothing compared to time in prison, which he personally experienced last year.

The six-time Grand Slam champion spent eight months in jail in the United Kingdom for illegally hiding assets in his bankruptcy claim. The original sentence was for two and a half years but Becker's release was fast-tracked, leading to him being deported back to Germany before Christmas.

Speaking to L'Equipe in a recent interview, Boris Becker drew from that experience, stating that he can only laugh when he hear players complain about the pressure they feel or the quality of the lounge food.

The former World No. 1 emphasized how one doesn't get a wink of sleep on their first and last night in prison, a fate far worse than anything a tennis player will have to face on the court.

"When I hear players complaining about the pressure they feel at one point, I laugh. When I hear players complain about the quality of the lounge food, I laugh. When I hear players complaining about training and the conditions on the pitches, I laugh."

"It means nothing compared to spending time in prison. On the first and last night you don't sleep for a second," Boris Becker said, as quoted by Blick.

Since returning to Germany, Becker has embraced the tennis world once again, and is now serving as the coach of 20-year-old Danish sensation Holger Rune. In his only previous stint as coach, the German led World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to six Grand Slam titles and 14 Masters 1000 titles.

Boris Becker: "You are nobody in prison, you are just a number"

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Boris Becker has talked about his time in prison on many occasions. In one interview, the six-time Grand Slam champion talked about how he was "nobody" in prison, simply being referred to by a number instead of a name.

"You are nobody in prison. You are just a number. Mine was A2923EV. I wasn't called Boris. I was a number. And they don't give a fu*** who you are," Becker said.

Becker has been exceedingly repentant after his jail sentence, saying that it taught him a very "expensive and painful" lesson which helped him rediscover the person he used to be.

"I think I rediscovered the person I used to be. I learned a hard lesson. A very expensive one. A very painful one. But the whole thing has something important and good for me learned. And some things happen for a good reason," Boris Becker said.