Boris Becker startled viewers of a Saturday night game show in Germany when he said he would marry former girlfriend, Dutch model Lilly Kerssenberg, in June.
Some 9.7 million viewers in Germany watched the unexpected announcement on the show “You Bet ..?” in which both Becker, 41, and Kerssenberg, 32, were guests. Kerssenberg who was obviously moved by the gesture, then went on to say ‘no’ to a shocked Becker.
Later in the programme in a show of good sportmanship, Becker had to jump through a burning heart of fire, his antics upstaging other guests, including Hollywood star Jennifer Anniston.
Becker and Kerssenberg had split up at the end of 2007 after a roughly two-year long relationship and last year Becker announced his engagement to glamorous jewellery designer Sandy Meyer-Woelden after seeing her for only a few months.
“Last summer I went a bit off track but she took me back. Now I don’t want to let her go,” Becker said after the show. The programme’s presenter, Thomas Gottschalk, looked astonished and said: “No, not again?”
He stacked up six grand slam titles but in recent years, his life has been a roller coaster. He lost much of his fortune, had a messy divorce and became the butt of jokes for his flings.
He fathered a child with a Russian model after a brief sexual encounter in the laundry cupboard of a Japanese restaurant in London after his final Wimbledon match while his wife was pregnant.