S7 EP1: Boris Becker on encountering Diddy, mind-games with Nadal and his spell in prison

The Louis Theroux Podcast

Spotify Studios

Comedy, Arts, Society & Culture

4.1 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2026

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bingo cards at the ready... for the first episode of the series, Louis’s on the road again - this time in sunny Milan to sit down with tennis champion, coach, and commentator, Boris Becker. The pair discuss Boris encountering Diddy in Miami, playing mind-games with Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon locker room, and his spell in Wandsworth prison. Warnings: Strong language and adult themes. Links/Attachments: Book: Boris Becker Inside, Boris Becker (2025) https://www.waterstones.com/book/inside/boris-becker/9780008782924 Book: The Player, Boris Becker (2004) https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-player/boris-becker/9780857500274 Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker, (2023) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10366552/ Boris Becker: The Rise & Fall, (2023) https://www.itv.com/watch/boris-becker-the-rise-and-fall/10a2940 Song: ‘Me Against The World', Tupac (1995) https://open.spotify.com/track/76wJIkA63AgwA92hUhpE2V?si=dcabe1b32c4947c9 Song: ‘Slippin’, Lil Kim (2005) https://open.spotify.com/track/3xN4CIFCdrJOiCFF7NFILQ Article: Judge Ordered to Pay Fine for Racist Tweet https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/16/alternative-germany-politician-ordered-pay-compensation-boris/#:~:text=Jens%20Maier%20of%20the%20AfD%20was%20ordered%20to%20pay%20%E2%82%AC,obtain%20bookings%20as%20a%20DJ Credits: Producer: Millie Chu  Assistant Producer: Maan al-Yasiri Production Manager: Francesca Bassett  Music: Miguel D’Oliveira  Audio Mixer: Tom Guest Video Mixer: Scott Edwards Shownotes compiled by Elly Young Executive Producer: Arron Fellows     A Mindhouse Studios Production for Spotify  www.mindhouse.co.uk  Open a Moneybox Cash ISA at https://moneybox.onelink.me/Cqlx/y3xncge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello there. Welcome back to what we call the Louis Theru podcast.
0:18.4	This week's guest is tennis champion, coach and commentator and also tabloid fixture, Boris Becker.
0:28.1	Boris Becker.
0:30.3	That's the first of the impressions I'll be doing this week.
0:33.2	I find when I do Boris, it kind of goes into Arnie, Ani, Anni, anyway, Arnold, Boris Becker.
0:40.8	It's Boris Becker. You know Boris Becker. Come on. Legendary tennis player who won Wimbledon
0:46.5	aged just 17. Yes, a Wundekind. He was German, so it works on both levels. He became the
0:53.4	youngest men's champion in the tournament's
0:55.6	history. He was a child, and he went on to win six grand slam titles in total. His success so
1:02.0	early on in his career catapulted him to fame with all the attendant issues to do with media coverage and the many temptations life put in his way.
1:16.4	He became one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet, Earth, in case you were wondering.
1:25.1	After retiring from professional tennis, Boris remained in the public eye working as a commentator.
1:30.4	He later coached Novak Djokovic, if you've heard of him, during one of the most successful periods of Novak's career.
1:37.2	But Boris's life off the court has been almost as headline grabbing as his time on it.
1:41.9	There have been divorces.
1:49.4	That was a tongue-in-cheek gasp. Divorces are divorces,
1:55.3	but these ones played out in a high-profile way. There have been financial problems, legal trouble and time spent in prison, all reported on by the tabloids.
2:05.8	He was in Wandsworth Prison, close to where I grew up in South London.
2:09.3	The relevance, you ask, none.
2:24.5	But we do talk about the almost poetic irony of Wandsworth Prison, S.W. 18, that's the London Post Code, and Wimbledon, SW19, a scant mile or two away,
2:36.8	and the ways in which his life reached its lowest ebb and its highest ebb in these vast physical structures that were so close.
2:39.3	I don't know.
	...

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