"There’s something about danger that Boris Becker enjoys" - Director Alex Gibney

American director Alex Gibney, the man behind the upcoming documentary about Boris Becker, spoke about the German in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated. He opined that Becker had a danger-seeking attitude that ultimately led him into trouble.

"Boom! Boom: The World vs. Boris Becker," releasing on April 7 on Apple TV+, will give a fans a behind-the-scenes look into the psyche of the former World No. 1. Among other things, it will also focus on the court trial which resulted in Becker being sent to prison in the UK for illegally hiding assets during his bankruptcy declaration.

Initially handed a two-and-a-half-year sentence, the tennis great was released after just eight months and was deported back to his home country late last year.

Speaking about experiencing the ordeal secondhand, Alex Gibney pointed to how Becker had already pled guilty in a similar tax case earlier in Germany. The case was brought up by a judge in the UK to prove the 55-year-old's "unrepentant" attitude.

It was a big part of why Boris Becker was sentenced to prison in the end.

"Boris got a big warning, but he didn’t pay sufficient attention to that warning. It cost him dearly because in the criminal case in the U.K., they cited the previous case as evidence that he was unrepentant," Gibney said. "What did the judge say? Humiliation, but no humility."

That made Gibney wonder if Becker "enjoyed" putting himself in such danger, drawing comparisons to a kid who "keeps putting his finger in the flame."

At the same time, he made note of the double standards in society, where fans wanted viciousness from their favorite players on court, while also expecting them to be gracious off it. These were two qualities he seemed to indicate that did not often go hand-in-hand.

"I think that testifies to what Ţiriac says: the young kid who keeps putting his finger in the flame. There’s something about danger that I think Boris Becker enjoys. That is kind of the plight of the athlete," Gibney said.

"We want our athletes to be vicious and cruel on the court. And then incredibly generous and gracious after. It’s not so easy."

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"As Boris Becker’s troubles deepened, both his legal and civil and his criminal troubles deepened" - Alex Gibney

Boris Becker at Wimbledon 2015

Alex Gibney further revealed that he himself wasn't aware that Boris Becker had pled guilty in Germany before the UK trial. Gibney discovered this only when doing research for his documentary.

It was after that point that he realized that the German's legal and criminal troubles were far worse than he had initially accounted for, making him expand the "scope" of the film.

"You discover things that you don’t expect. Like I didn’t know at first in that German tax case that Boris actually pled guilty. … As Boris’s troubles deepened, both his legal and civil and his criminal troubles deepened," Gibney said.

"It expanded the scope of the film and made me realize that there was something bigger going on here that they need to explore."