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Becker saves German tournament Posted: Friday October 04, 2002 1:23 PMHAMBURG, Germany (AP) -- Former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, who faces a trial of tax evasion charges, has gained marketing rights to the German Open, saving the country's oldest tennis tournament. The German tennis federation (DFB) said Friday the May tournament was now sure to take place next year. The German Open, losing sponsors, was in danger of being taken off the calendar. The DFB, itself financially strained, has given up the women's tournament that traditionally precedes the men's event on the calendar. Becker is a co-founder of a Swiss company, BCI, that will handle marketing rights for the German Open in a joint venture with a London-based firm, the ACE Group. The two firms have guaranteed 1.5 million euro (US$1.47 million) in sponsors' money for the 2003 tournament, the DFB said. Becker, 34, is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 23 on tax evasion charges. The three-time Wimbledon champion also has been in the headlines through a messy divorce and the revelation that he fathered a daughter during a brief affair with a Russian-born model in London. At the height of Becker's career, tennis became immensely popular in Germany. But since his retirement three years ago and the ends of the careers of Michael Stich and Steffi Graf, interest in the game has plummeted in Germany. |
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