"Steffi Graf was amazing and I sucked" - Boris Becker recalls playing mixed doubles with fellow German at Hopman Cup 1992
Six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker recently recalled the time he took to the court alongside the legendary Steffi Graf to represent their home country Germany in mixed doubles at the Hopman Cup in 1992.
In a friendly Q&A via his Instagram channel, Becker was asked by a fan if he had ever played doubles with Graf. He replied in the affirmative and joked that it was the 22-time Grand Slam champion who did all the heavy lifting at the tournament in Perth, while he "sucked."
"Indeed! We have played mixed at the old Hopman Cup in Australian looooong time ago. Steffi was amazing and I sucked!" Becker wrote.
The power duo took Germany as far as the semifinals of the 1992 Hopman Cup, where they fell to the Czech (Czechoslovakia at the time) pairing of Helena Suková and Karel Nováček.
It was the only edition of the tournament where they appeared together. The following year, Graf teamed up with former Wimbledon champion Michael Stich to lift the trophy.
Boris Becker is currently keeping busy with the launch of his clothing line. He recently announced the opening of the brand's store in Turkey on social media along with a clip of a short tour of the store.
When Boris Becker and Steffi Graf swept Wimbledon in 1989
Boris Becker and Steffi Graf dominated the sport in the 1980s and 90s. While Becker became the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon at the age of 17 in 1985, Graf began to etch her name in tennis history when she defeated Martina Navratilova to win her first Grand Slam at the French Open in 1987.
Both German players were in their prime at the 1989 Wimbledon Championships. Becker overcame defending champion Stefan Edberg to lift the men's singles trophy.
However, it was his grueling five-set semifinal match with top seed Ivan Lendl that is often spoken about. The duel lasted four hours and one minute, a record at the time. It was only surpassed in 2013 by the encounter between Novak Djokovic and Juan Martín del Potro, which lasted four hours and forty-three minutes.
Having won the Golden Slam (all four Majors and the Olympic gold medal) in 1988, Graf stepped onto the Wimbledon grass in 1989 to claim her second title at the British Major. It was the third consecutive year that she faced Martina Navratilova in the final.
This was undoubtedly one of the most glorious days for German tennis, with both men and women champions playing under their flag.