Boris Becker may not have to serve complete term inside prison

Boris Becker will be transferred to a low-security prison within weeks and may serve only 10 months before being released on an electronic tag for the remainder of his two-and-a-half-year term.

The professional tennis player, 54, arrived at HMP Wandsworth on Friday, a category B prison just over two miles from Wimbledon’s Centre Court, where he won three Grand Slam titles.

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Wandsworth is also a remand prison, which is used to temporarily keep convicts until they are transported to serve their sentences elsewhere, and because Becker’s offences were nonviolent, his next jail will most certainly be of a lesser security category.

Meanwhile, if officials decide to free him halfway through his sentence, he might spend only 10 months in prison before being released, according to The Mirror.

Due to current COVID limitations, new offenders arriving at Wandsworth jail are required to stay in the ‘induction wing’ for seven to ten days.

Becker could then be transferred to the general population, but new offenders are usually required to be in the prison for at least six weeks and demonstrate good behaviour before being considered for labour roles.

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A former prison governor suggested that Becker would make an excellent gym instructor if he wanted to work while incarcerated.

‘Gyms are very popular in prisons – it’s a job a lot of prisoners want,’ Jerry Petherick told The Sun.

However, Becker is unlikely to be able to fill such a position anytime soon.

Andy Murray, another Wimbledon champion, expressed sympathy for Becker but said, ‘I don’t think you should get special treatment because of who you are or what you’ve achieved.’

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Becker was found to have hidden £2.5 million in assets and loans in order to avoid paying his obligations, and he began his sentence on Friday, serving a minimum of one year and three months.

In June 2017, he was declared bankrupt, owing creditors about £50 million for an unpaid loan of more than £3 million on his estate in Mallorca, Spain.