Just before he was sent to serve a 30-month prison sentence at HMP Wandsworth, Boris Becker told his partner, Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, that she could leave him if she wished.
Instead, she stuck by him, leading the tennis star, commentator and coach to declare that Monteiro, a former political risk analyst who is the daughter of an African politician, was the “love of his life”.
The former Wimbledon champion would probably know, having been married twice before and seen the comings and goings of his love life splashed across the tabloids. Now, Becker, 56, is said to have asked Monteiro to marry him.
Reports in the German media of the engagement mark a watershed for Becker, who won Wimbledon three times; first as a
