“I wanted to be your life”
Klopp stirs Boris Becker to tears
Updated on 08/26/2025 – 00:34 a.m.Reading time: 3 min.
Boris Becker receives a legend award-and Jürgen Klopp ensures tears with his laudation.
Two sports giants provide an emotional moment: Boris Becker received the “Sport Bild” Award as a “legend” in Hamburg on Monday evening-and was surprised by Jürgen Klopp with a moving speech. The former Liverpool coach praised Becker’s influence on an entire generation and said: “I owe my career to you.”
Klopp remembered Becker’s success and how much they shaped him. “Back then I wanted nothing more than you. Not in an unpleasant way, I wanted to be your life. I wanted to be there, I wanted to be your best friend. We all – we all wanted to be,” said Klopp. “You showed me that I don’t have to wait until I am old enough, but that I can already. Whatever I want, I can get myself now, because you got the greatest tennis title ever at a time when it was considered absolutely impossible.”
With a view to Becker’s historical triumph, Klopp added: “If you hadn’t won Wimbledon in 1985, I would not be here today.” The now 57-year-old Becker had won the tournament as the youngest winner in history.
“It was the greatest for me. At that time we all felt that we had won,” said the 58-year-old Klopp also on the red carpet with a view of Becker’s coup. “I know where I was about 10 minutes after the last point. I am on the tennis court myself and tried to play my soul out of my body because it was simply the greatest experience that I had until then, from the audience perspective,” enthused Klopp.
Becker won a total of six Grand Slam titles in his career, became the Olympic champion and was at the head of the world rankings. “His success made tennis popular in Germany and he was a global sports legend,” the BILD group explains the decision for Becker in a press release. The award was awarded for the 23rd time in Hamburg on Monday evening.
After the laudation of Klopp, Becker entered the stage under applause – with tears in his eyes. He hugged Klopp and thanked visibly: “You came up with something, I didn’t expect that. And if I were a footballer, I would have loved to play for you.” Then he added with a laugh: “If you had told me that before a semi -finals, you couldn’t have broken me.”
In his speech, Becker also gave a personal insight: Klopp wanted to visit him in 2022 during his detention when he was sitting in prison for insolvency offenses. However, the visit was rejected for security reasons – Klopp was too known. Nevertheless, they would have been in contact by phone.