‘Split was my worst defeat’

‘‘Yes, I am afraid,’’ he added. ‘‘I am afraid for my children because they have to go through a situation that neither their mother nor their father can control.’’ The German, who has been on the front page of the local newspapers almost daily for the past few weeks, faces another wave of media attention after allegations from a London-based Russian-born model that he is the father of her baby.

‘‘I don’t want to say anything on that for legal reasons,’’ said Becker, who underwent a paternity test in London to clear up the report. ‘‘There is an ongoing investigation and I will only say more once we have the result of the test,’’ he told Der Spiegel.

After the baby story broke, Becker said he had talked about it with Barbara. ‘‘The weekend when the subject surfaced was not easy,’’ he said. ‘‘I had to explain the whole problem to Barbara. She reacted well. ‘She was informed from the start. We played an open game and the matter was not the reason for our separation.’’More headlines followed after Becker confirmed last Monday that he had started a romance with rap singer Sabrina Setlur, who was once voted Germany’s ‘‘most erotic woman.’’

Becker, whose seven-year marriage with Feltus attracted constant media attention, admitted he had make mistakes. ‘‘My own attitude was not always 100 per cent correct,’’ he said.

The 33-year-old, whose romance with Barbara started two years before they were married, said the two had enjoyed a happy marriage. ‘‘From the nine years that we spent together, we had seven of innocence. Those years were the happiest of my life.

‘‘For years there were no stories or rumours about us. We were a perfect team, from A to Z.’’

Barbara’s desire to focus on her own career and the pair’s lifestyle were some of the reasons behind the separation, he said.

‘‘Our house was always full, party here and party there,’’ he said. ‘‘What had made us so strong got lost, more and more. Suddenly there were people between us. I don’t want to have anybody between me an my wife.’’

Becker, who burst into the limelight by winning Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 1985 and retired from competitive tennis in 1999, said he looked back with nostalgia to the time when he could concentrate on hitting the ball. ‘‘I can think about times when life was a lot simpler than it is today,’’ he said.

He said the overwhelming domination of American rival Pete Sampras was the main reason why he had stopped playing.

‘‘I knew I would never be the number one again,’’ he said. ‘‘Even if I would play at my best, Pete Sampras would still be better. So why go on?’’