Boris Becker has been welcomed back into German tennis “with open arms”, seven weeks after being released from a London prison.
Becker, 55, sat in the team box during the Davis Cup loss to Switzerland in the western city of Trier, posting on Instagram that “we fought hard and left everything on the court”.
The six-time Grand Slam champion, and former world number one, is serving eight months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence in England for flouting insolvency rules.
While Becker may only be attending this weekend’s Davis Cup tie in an unofficial capacity, there is speculation that he could return to his former role as Head of Men’s Tennis with the German Tennis Association (DTB).
Speaking to tabloid Bild, German number one Alexander Zverev said: “We (German tennis) welcome him with open arms.”
Former Davis Cup captain Becker was invited by DTB as a “teammate”.
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He was seen hugging and comforting the players at the end of the tie on Saturday.
“Boris knows how to get things done. It doesn’t matter if it’s a player, a coach, DTB or whoever, he can help everywhere,” said Zverev.
Davis Cup teammate Oscar Otte also praised Becker’s presence.
“He said some really nice things to me during the warm-up. It helped a lot,” Otte said.
“There was a lot of experience. We are all very happy that he is back.
challenging times
Becker’s return comes at a difficult time for German men’s tennis.
Former Wimbledon champion Michael Stich told German newspaper FAZ on Sunday “we have a problem that the gap to Zverev is big, at least in individual terms.”
Zverev, the former world number two, is currently ranked 14th while Otte is ranked 80th and Daniel Altmaier is ranked 91st.
From 2013 to 2016, Becker coached Novak Djokovic to six of his 22 Grand Slams.