Apple TV+ served up a new trailer Thursday for Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker. It’s a two-part documentary exploring the life of the German tennis legend. He triumphed at Wimbledon at age 17 and won 49 career titles, including six Grand Slams plus an Olympic gold medal. And then he went off the rails, life-wise.
Following an ugly divorce involving infidelity, the troubled celebrity ended up in prison for concealing assets to avoid paying debts. But in the trailer, filled with other tennis stars, Becker says a new chapter in his life is coming. The documentary debuts April 7.
Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker details tennis star’s troubled life
Becker became an unusually young Wimbledon champion with a power game and a long, successful career. But he lived a “high-profile, sometimes tumultuous personal life,” Apple TV+ said. His marriage to a black woman and the union’s painful end both made headlines in Germany and elsewhere, as did his financial woes.
Apple TV+ said Oscar-winning filmmakers Alex Gibney (Enron, The Armstrong Lie) and John Battsek (One Day in September, Searching for Sugar Man) had “more than three years of exclusive access to Becker” before his sentencing in April 2022 to two-and-a half-years in prison. He got out in December after serving 8 months.
Here’s a bit more description from the streaming service:
Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker features a series of personal interviews with Becker, including an exclusive conversation with the champion the week of his sentencing, alongside members of his immediate family and tennis stars, including John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Novak Djokovic, Mats Wilander and Michael Stich.
Battsek’s Ventureland and Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions co-produce the documentary, alongside Lorton Entertainment. Lorton worked on Asif Kapadia’s BAFTA Award-nominated Diego Maradona, about the soccer legend, and Matt Smith’s recent documentary Rooney about English soccer star Wayne Rooney.
Watch the new trailer
Other Apple TV+ sports documentaries
Apple TV+ said the new documentary joins a host of current and upcoming “nonfiction programming featuring the biggest names in sports” on the streaming service. Projects include:
- A documentary about the life and career of seven-time Formula One racing champion Sir Lewis Hamilton.
- The documentary film Underrated features NBA star Stephen Curry.
- The Emmy Award-nominated four-part documentary series They Call Me Magic covers the life of two-time NBA Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
- The Dynasty, a documentary series about the New England Patriots, comes from Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries and NFL Films.
- The Long Game: Bigger Than Basketball covers basketball sensation Makur Maker.
- Documentary series Make or Break features top surfers as they compete in the World Surf League Championship Tour.
- Greatness Code, a short-form unscripted series directed by Gotham Chopra, now in its second season.
Apple TV+ is available by subscription for $6.99 with a seven-day free trial. You can also get it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle.
After first airing in November 2019, “Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 299 wins and 1,279 award nominations and counting,” the service said.
