Tillmann Prüfer is a member of the editor-in-chief of “Zeit-Magazin”.
I recently read the reports on the court proceedings against Boris Becker and it gave me a lot to think about. Among other things, it was about whether this person, who became famous as a tennis player, communicated appropriately with the authorities as part of his bankruptcy and where his first Wimbledon trophy actually went, which is part of the bankruptcy estate.
The trophy collection was auctioned years ago on behalf of the insolvency administrator. Only the original Henkelpot, who made a world star out of a 17-year-old from Leimen, was spared. I wonder what kind of people are bidding on athlete trophies. A trophy is something that gains value because you fought for it yourself – and only because of that, right?
In any case, according to his own statement, Becker has no idea where his first Wimbledon trophy could have gone. And I can understand if he just buried it in the garden so no one could get their hands on it. Becker stated that he never had an overview of his finances, that he believed his advisors and administrators, and that he only cursorily read the contracts he signed because he did not have the patience to study the rules in detail .
>> Read here: Driven into the Darknet by the Bürgeramt
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I can understand that very well, I would be incredibly grateful if there was someone who would take care of everything for me. But since I don’t have it, I’m basically in an even worse position than Boris Becker. Because I also read contracts cursorily and then simply sign them, but just to myself. The last contract I read in full was the rental contract for my dorm room. It was only half a page. I think to myself, these are just texts in which everything is already correct, because other people sign them too.
Boris Becker says that he usually only spent the money he was given. I have to say that that would also be my ideal vision of life. I really hate looking at the bank balance and would be grateful if someone was responsible for it. And unlike me, Becker had plenty of other things to do, like tennis, weddings, divorces, for example.
I find it depressing that the practice of not reading strenuous things, which I am personally very familiar with, apparently means that you have to go bankrupt and then face a London court. Then strangers put my hard-earned trophies on the shelves. People who have probably never really had to fight for anything in life, but who have always read the small print carefully. What a pity. At least I would be spared the trouble with the trophy: I don’t have a trophy, not even buried in the garden.
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