Brand Becker

Alicia Buller meets the former world number one to find he has more aces up his sleeve.

It's a good feeling to know you can't be bought," said tennis champion Boris Becker, after rejecting a US$2m appearance offer in the early 1990s. All that was required of him was to turn up, play a match, and pick up the cheque - but he didn't much feel like playing tennis that week.

How things change. Today the former world number one is a well-heeled principal owner at Volkl, a German racquet and clothing manufacturer. What's more, he tells Arabian Business that he's happy to monetise his name - literally - with the announcement of the Boris Becker Business Tower in Dubai's Business Bay district.

"It is common knowledge that this is not a charity project," he says of his endorsement partnership with German investment company, ACI Real Estate.

The US$150m Boris Becker Tower project is not, as it sounds, a single tower, but a set of three 19-storey commercial buildings - and the last piece in the firm's ‘Sports Trilogy' vision, following the announcement of Niki Lauda Twin Towers and the Michael Schumacher Business Avenue.

At the launch event for his self-named tower, Becker leans back in his chair like a man who has already accomplished a lot of what he wants to achieve.

"He wants to make money," the tennis star says, pointing at Robin Lohmann, managing director of ACI Real Estate. "And I want to make money."

"It's my first business tower. It is a proud moment to have a building named after you. In 10 years time, you're always going to remember the first one - I'm never going to remember the fifth one. It's a special day for me and for ACI as well. We are planning many things," he adds.

Amid stamping his ‘BB' logo on more towers, Becker says he hopes to find the time to build on his ‘international' profile. Forget Brand Beckham and their billions - and welcome, instead, to Brand Becker.

The tennis star - the youngest player ever to win the Wimbledon at 17 years old - still has a few more matches he wants to win on the global stage, only this time without using his famous "boom boom" serve.

"We are developing the Boris Becker brand and I've got my own logo, we've been working on building this in the last few years, in the crossover from my tennis career to the next one. I've started to build up my name in a quite a global way, with different projects," he says.

"The reason we're sitting here is because I'm still quite a famous figure. Not only in the region, but around the world. It takes a lot of work; you have to create a new self in a way. You have to work with believable, credible projects that can last."

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