German tennis legend Boris Becker said on Monday he could sympathize with golf great Tiger Woods, who has announced an indefinite break from professional sports after admitting to adultery.
Becker, who went through a high-profile divorce in 2001 after it emerged that he had fathered a child with another woman during a brief tryst in a London restaurant, said he was familiar with a media maelstrom over sex.
“I experienced basically the same thing and can sympathize with him,” he told ARD television in an interview to be broadcast later on Monday.
PHOTO: EPA
Becker, 42, said he hoped Woods could reconcile with his wife, Elin Woods, who has reportedly hired a Hollywood divorce lawyer, but acknowledged it would be “damn hard.”
“There are all these stories that keep emerging. Whether they are true or not doesn’t matter anymore. Every week there is a new woman,” Becker said, in excerpts from the interview published by Bild newspaper.
Becker, a hobby golfer who said he had met the 33-year-old Woods on a few occasions, expressed surprise about the number of women with whom the golfer reportedly had extramarital affairs.
“I was shocked by the dimensions, the frequency,” he said. “All the things he would have had to cover up, just logistically — how did he manage to do it? He must constantly be changing phones to cover up his tracks.”
The youngest man to win Wimbledon and a six-time Grand Slam singles champion, “Boom-Boom” Becker has remained an A-list celebrity in Germany.
He is now expecting his fourth child with his second wife.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Connelly Early on Tuesday struck out 11 in five shutout innings to match a franchise record during his MLB debut against the Oakland Athletics. “Pretty sick performance,” teammate Romy Gonzalez said. “It was fun to watch.” The only other Red Sox starter to rack up 11 strikeouts in his first career game was Don Aase versus the Milwaukee Brewers on July 26, 1977. “It was amazing, just to go out there and have that first opportunity,” Early said after getting the win in a 6-0 victory. “A long day of travel yesterday and just getting to the field, seeing
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS: Blake Snell allowed two singles and two walks against the Rockies as he ended a personal three-game skid with his first win since Aug. 16 Blake Snell on Wednesday struck out a season-high 11 in six innings, while Mookie Betts hit a grand slam in the eighth as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-0 for their fourth straight win. Helped by their third series sweep of the Rockies this MLB season, the Dodgers increased their National League West lead to three games over the San Diego Padres, who lost 2-1 at home to the Cincinnati Reds. Betts went four for five with five RBIs, capped by his seventh career slam on a 3-0 pitch from reliever Anthony Molina to make it 8-0. Andy Pages and
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT