Earlier this month, Apple TV+ announced that they would premiere Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker on April 7. That documentary is directed by Alex Gibney, known for sports work including The Armstrong Lie, Ceasefire Massacre (in the 30 for 30 Soccer Stories collection), and Catching Hell, as well as non-sports projects including the Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys On The Room. It’s produced by John Battsek, whose sports credits include producing the FIFA Uncovered series, One Day In September and four-part 30 for 30 installment The Life and Trials of Oscar Pistorius. And it now has a new trailer:
Here’s more on what to expect from this documentary on Becker, from a release:
Apple TV+ today released the official trailer for “Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker,” the new two-part documentary event from Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (“Taxi to the Dark Side,” “Enron,” “The Armstrong Lie,” “Going Clear”) and Oscar-winning producer John Battsek (“One Day in September,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” “The Rescue, “The Deepest Breath”) will premiere globally on April 7, 2023. The docuseries explores every aspect of the man who became a tennis sensation after winning The Wimbledon Championships at the age of just 17, going on to win 49 career titles, including six Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal, as well as his high-profile, sometimes tumultuous personal life.
The filmmakers had special access to Becker for more than three years, until late April 2022, when he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for hiding assets and loans to avoid paying his debts. “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.
Written and directed by Alex Gibney, the series is a co-production between Battsek’s Ventureland and Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions, in association with Lorton Entertainment, whose projects also include Asif Kapadia’s BAFTA Award-nominated “Diego Maradona” and Matt Smith’s recent documentary “Rooney,” on English football great Wayne Rooney. “Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker” is produced by Battsek and Gibney with producers George Chignell and Erin Edeiken. Executive producers are Stacey Offman, Richard Perello, Kerstin Emhoff, Andrew Ruhemann, Julian Bird, Duncan Ford and Ed Barratt.
Becker’s career and life is certainly a good subject for a documentary. He had a remarkable tennis career, with that Wimbledon men’s singles win at 17 in 1985 still holding up as the youngest-ever, and with him adding two more Wimbledon titles, two Australian Open titles, a U.S. Open title, and a gold in doubles in the 1992 Summer Olympics (with Michael Stitch). He finished with 49 singles titles and 15 doubles titles. But he had tax issues even during the height of his career, and wound up with a two-year suspended sentence in 2002 before this most recent conviction in 2022. So there are lots off-the-court stories to explore with him, and the amount of access this group got to Becker amidst his recent legal troubles sounds promising. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.
[Apple TV+ on YouTube]
