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Journalism of Courage
The couple had announced earlier this month that they were separating but said they had no plans to divorce. They have two children, Noah Gabriel, 6, and Elias Balthasar, 1.
The case turned uglier recently, however, after Barbara filed an injunction in a Florida court to block her husband from leaving the country with their two sons. Becker reportedly cancelled her credit cards and fired her personal bodyguard.
Michael Haussner, a spokesman for the Munich Inferior Court, said Becker had filed on December 15, two days before their seventh wedding anniversary.
German personality magazine Bunte reported that Becker had also raised a formal objection to his wife8217;s complaint filed in Miami last week for custody of the children and alimony.
Barbara, who is the daughter of an American and a German, left Germany soon after the couple announced their separation and took the children to their Florida vacation home.
Bunte reported that Becker had mentioned the couple8217;s prenuptial agreement in his counter suit, which states that Barbara Becker would receive DM 5 million if they divorced.
German media had reported that Barbara could expect to receive four times that, some DM 20 million, if the case is heard in Miami.
News weekly Der Spiegel reported in an advance copy of its Friday edition that the couple would would appear in a Miami court on January 8 but that Becker, 33, has disputed a US court8217;s jurisdiction in the case.
It added that Barbara, also 33, had registered Noah Gabriel for school in Miami and had kept Becker from seeing his oldest son.
The couple had been one of Germany8217;s most glamorous and popular couples. The news of their separation has received microscopic attention in the press here.
Becker, who quit the pro tennis tour last year, told a German newspaper after the split that the marriage had been something he 8220;lost in the fifth set.8221;
