Becker's new life hit by tax claims and personal crisis

Boris Becker, the former hero of the Centre Court, who appeared to be making a new career as a tennis commentator and a new life with a new girlfriend, was reeling yesterday as both his professional and personal life took a downturn.

Becker had impressed over the Wimbledon championship, sharing the commentary box with John McEnroe, a rival from his playing days. And with his eight-year-old son, Noah, sitting alongside him, Becker seemed to be on the way to approaching middle age as a model father and sports analyst.

But at the weekend it was revealed that the three times Wimbledon champion is being investigated in Germany for suspected tax evasion, which could lead to a prison sentence. It was also disclosed yesterday that he has parted from his most recent girlfriend, Patricia Farameh.

Becker, 34, has been under investigation for allegedly claiming his residence was in Monaco, a tax haven, while in fact living in Germany. The German news magazines Focus and Der Spiegel reported that prosecutors believe he was registered in Monaco in the early 1990s but lived at the time in his sister's loft in Munich. Investigators maintain his business was conducted in Germany and he has to pay taxes in the country.

"There is sufficient reason to suspect tax offences," said the head of the Munich public prosecutor's office, Manfred Wick, who declined to specify the charges. Mr Wick said the Munich district court had not decided whether the charges were admissible for court action to go ahead.

Becker became the youngest Wimbledon men's champion in 1985, aged 17 years and seven months, and as his successes mounted he achieved the world number one ranking. He has remained an important sports figure in Germany since retiring.

The tax case echoes the woes of Germany's other great tennis champion of recent times Steffi Graf, whose father Peter spent nearly two years in jail after being convicted in 1997 of evading $7m (£4.6m) in tax on his daughter's earnings.

Becker has not made any comment about the upheaval in his personal life. But Ms Farameh, a philosophy graduate, told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that the two had decided to break up.

Iranian-born Ms Farameh, 28, was with Becker for five months. "Boris and I had a wonderful time together," she said. "It was an unforgettable, passionate experience, because he is a fascinating, intense man of character. Unfortunately we lost our synergy. Last weekend in London was our last chance to save our relationship. We tried very hard."

The tax evasion charges are the latest in a series of embarrassments for Becker. After embarking on a career in sports marketing and advertising, he gained unwanted publicity as he divorced his wife of seven years, Barbara Feltus, and agreed to a multimillion-pound divorce settlement. Then he was forced to admit paternity of the daughter of a Russian model, Angela Ermakova.

Becker has said he spun into a mid-life crisis after his father, Karl Heinz, died in 1999.

The weekend's events have set back Becker's attempts to resurrect his reputation. He had hoped to escape the concentration on his personal life which became intense after a brief encounter with Ms Ermakova in the broom cupboard of a London restaurant in 1999 resulted in her pregnancy.

That encounter destroyed his marriage and cost him a sizeable slice of his fortune. Becker already has two sons from his marriage, Noah and two-year-old Elias.The bill for supporting Ms Ermakova's daughter and for his divorce is thought to be about £12m.