I feel a bit sorry for Boris Becker and I’m sure I’m not alone.
Following his conviction and sentencing ‘for hiding £2.5m worth of assets and loans to avoid paying his debts’ several reports have mentioned his love of Cuban cigars and I can confirm this.
When I was Cuba in 2013 for the annual Habanos Festival I attended Gala Night, a big corporate bash for 1500 people, where Becker was one of several guests of honour.
In a subsequent blog post I explained his presence:
In the absence of Fidel Castro, who had reportedly given up smoking, Festival organisers had for some years been inviting "distinguished international personalities" such as Steven Spielberg, Jack Nicholson, Jeremy Irons, Matt Dillon, Gerard Depardieu and Peter Coyote.
In 2013 American actor Danny Glover was invited to receive a special award. "I am here to praise the Habano and all Cuba," he told the audience before demanding "justice" for the Cuban Five, also known as the Miami Five [who were in prison in the United States].
Bored by Glover’s grandstanding, I was delighted when he left the stage:
A more welcome sight was that of Boris Becker who [also] took part in the Habanos Awards ceremony. The former Wimbledon champion presented the Communications Category Award but wisely kept his mouth shut.
It wasn’t the first time I had seen him during the Festival:
That was the second time I had seen Boris in Havana. At the Gala Night he was a small figure on a huge stage looking a trifle bemused. The previous evening however, at another function, I stood no more than a few feet away while he smoked a cigar and chatted to other guests. (I took great pleasure inhaling the great man's fumes.)
We were wearing almost identical cream linen suits and I swear we looked like twins. One or two people commented on how stout he seemed so it's official – Boris Becker is my doppelgänger (with a bit more hair).
See ‘Your man in Havana: notes from a Caribbean island’.
My impression, for what it’s worth, is that Brand Boris was being used to embellish a major corporate event but the man himself was no more than a pawn in the process.
It was interesting too that while he looked lost on that giant Gala Night stage, he was clearly more at home at the much smaller function the previous evening where he seemed content to chat quietly to people.
Poignantly recent media reports have noted him ‘puffing on a cigarette’, a small comfort he will be denied in jail.
Perhaps the affluent cigar days are behind him but I hope not. We all deserve a second chance.
Gala Night at the Habanos Festival, Cuba, March 2, 2013
