"He has been pretty much with the same girlfriend for the past three or four years. That is something you don't usually do when you are 23. That is something you do when you are 19 or 20."

Whoa!... what has that got to do with maturity? I would have thought swapping partners often would indicate more immaturity. Good of him to have a steady gf.

cable - thought the same thing.

Becker (of broom cupboard fame) making pronouncements on maturity. Give us a break. Mr. Lindahl is scraping the bottom of the barrel to run this is a newsworthy item.

"He has been pretty much with the same girlfriend for the past three or four years. That is something you don't usually do when you are 23. That is something you do when you are 19 or 20. Maybe he is maturing a bit slower and that shows on the tennis court."

Speak for yourself Boris, not everyone can be like you, and sticking to one GF hasn't slowed Rafa's progress, has it.

If a person has tiniest amount of decency he can't make such low comments (in public) on relationship between a son and his mother, let alone on his romantic life. Its amazing how education fails so miserably for some. Personally i'm disgusted. Why dont people just leave Murry alone?

completely agreed, also my first thought when I read it

the girlfriend comment may be the randomest (and dumbest?) comment I have seen in a while

What a strange way to promote promiscuity of professional athletes. That is at least how I understand what German is saying...Mr. Becker is the last to speak of maturity or criticize anyone in regard to relationships...I wonder if he was on drugs when stating this complete nonsense...

Point 1: someone with the morals of an alley cat passing judgement on a man because he's had the same gf for three years, u just gotta laugh
2: Andy went off to Barcelona when he was 15, I don't believe Judy went with him. This is just sexism pure and simple
3. Rafa travels with Toni, does this make him an "uncle's boy." ?? Again u gotta laugh.
Would have thought there was 2 much tennis going on to bother with this kind of drivel!

Boris Becker is always running at the mouth -- half the time he makes no sense whatsoever, but this is a new low even for him.

Sticking with 1 gf is what TEENAGERS do? What universe does he live in? Frankly, BB is the last person I'd take "growing up" advice from.

I ask myself whatever made JL choose to feature this garbage as 'news'. Is he jealous of the number of comments Cheryl and Ricky garner for their blogs and hoping to clock up a few here by peddling this nonsense from BB?

More senseless psychobabble from lindahl as usual. Thank God for Cheryl and Ricky! Otherwise, if all articles were as stupid as this, I would never post here--lol.

f4t: This is not psychobabble from JL - he is simply guilty of lifting verbatim what Becker has said elsewhere. JL himself rarely passes an opinion of his own on anything he publishes under the heading of 'news' which, in any case, is usually a cut and paste job of yesterday's news which most of us have already read. Hence the almost complete absence of comments for weeks at a time. Anything worth commenting upon has already been, or is in the process of being, debated elsewhere on TT.

This holier than thou attitude from fans and bloggers alike is just as bad as Boris's comments - but for whatever its worth, Boris was one of those players you'd never get tired of seeing on court. I'd love to have seen him on an old Wimbledon grass court, schooling the top four today.

Samprallica, why don't you say you like to see BB playing on the Wimbledon grass NOW and get schooled by the top four guys? Don't you think your comment is unfair to the top four guys? If they were all brought up during Boris Becker's era, who is to say that they can't play on fast grass and beat Becker there? You think Becker can survive playing his S&V style now on the slow grass?

@luckystar
mean no disrespect,but I believe and in prime BB would straight set murray and djokovic on the new slower grass used. He wouldnt be able to beat federer and nadal on the slow grass,but I think he would play them very tough.(certainly tougher than anyone playing the game right now.)

Beckers comments were absolutely hilarious. I used to like him when he played tennis,but I am starting to resent him now...

He can't but what's the point? Grass at Wimbledon isn't distinct as a surface nowadays - Wimbledon was a lot more unique as a tournament than it is now.

If Becker was brought up in today's era, what's to say he can't beat them today? :D Point is he was a better true grass court player than at least three of the top four - and played a wonderful style of tennis. At the same time, clay is a different story. I'm not dissing any of the top four (although Becker is streets ahead of Nole and Murray as a player). Just saying don't bring that holier than thou attitude when talking about legends of the game. Give a lot of people the same money and fame and you'll see what happens.

Besides, Murray is no angel either - there have been many instances when he's treated people pretty badly.

Yep, I agree with tj - even on the slower grass Becker would send Murray and most certainly Nole (even though he's my favourite) packing.

"He has been pretty much with the same girlfriend for the past three or four years. That is something you don't usually do when you are 23. That is something you do when you are 19 or 20. Maybe he is maturing a bit slower and that shows on the tennis court."

OY VEY, what is wrong with BB? Fed was with Mirka throughout his 20s, and only got married due to her pregnancy -- did that make him a mama's boy? I saw Fed on the Tennis Channel talking about Mirka's pregnancy; he said he was depressed for weeks after being told the news. That said, Murray's showing maturity sticking to the same girl in his early twenties. What's he supposed to do, play the field? I don't see that as a sign of maturity, flitting from one girl to another -- I see it as immaturity. I suppose Becker is talking about his own lifestyle, which is NOT a good example for young adults. sheesh

With respect to the wimbledon grass, as far as I can remember, Becker hated the grass, and his reasons for doing so poorly there in his results, he claimed was due to his allergic reaction to grass.

Samprallica and tj, you are comparing BB a complete product with these three young guys who are still work in progress, do you think you are fair? Who is to say they can't improve further? Don't you think you are too prejudiced or unfair in your judgement?

I don't think people here are on any moral high horse, if people like BB can say what they want, others are entitled to do so too! Furthermore, what BB said about having only one girl friend since age 19 till now is not a universal truth, we see both Fed and Rafa know their girl friend since age 19 and Rafa still has the same girl friend and Fed has married his girl

Sorry press the send button accidentally.

I meant to say Fed also went on to marry his this same girl friend. What's wrong with Becker these days, want to say anything just to get some attention?

Because u guys seem to think BB can beat Andy, which is totally hypothetical anyway, then it's alright for BB to say what he likes about Andy and his mother? V. V. strange.
Unfortunately Boris obviously keeps his brains u know where.

The two things Boris cited as inhibiting Andy's 'progress' in tennis i.e being too close to his Mum and not playing the field have not done Rafa any harm, because he has had the same gf from whenever, and has only had his uncle, with whom he is very close, as his coach; in fact not so long ago some people thought that because Rafa trusts U. Toni implicitly, and he has taught Rafa all he knows about tennis, Rafa listens to his advice, and that could work for Andy and his Mum.

Boris should have engaged his brain before opening his mouth.

We know he has b**** but I wasn't aware he had any brains

samprallica, 11/11/10 1:19 AM 'Boris was one of those players you'd never get tired of seeing on court.'

Speak for yourself sampralica. Did you ever see him play, or are you relying on replays aired on TV? I speak as a spectator who watched many of his matches at Wimbledon - the scene of some of his greatest triumphs.

As a 17 year old he was a breath of fresh air and for a few years provided entertainment value with his antics on court. True many of his matches were gripping - e.g. when faced by an opponent able to withstand the brutal physicality of his game and who responded with classic tennis (i.e. Edberg). But in later years he became increasingly unpopular with the Wimbledon crowd who tired of Mr. Boom Boom and did not appreciate his gamesmanship tactics and lack of sportsmanship.

@ed
I used to like watching becker's matches with sampras.

I'd like to see Murray be a bit cooler headed on court. The way he berates himself comes across as a wee bit immature sometimes. I think he lets mistakes have more impact than they should.

I don't think this has anything to do with Judy. Judy worked with Andy during Toronto this year and look what happened.

Becker vs. Sampras was a great matchup in Becker's later years - and who can forget the 1995 semi vs. Agassi?

Becker may have gotten less sportsmanlike as he went along - but gamesmanship, really? If we're on that subject, we can pull out Nadal and Djokovic for as long as we want to. And I'm not attacking Rafa or Nole in any way, they are my two favourite players on tour.

I agree with the fact that Becker's comments were silly, but in the context of manning up, Andy has to if he wants to win more. He was way too passive in the two grand slam finals he played. And as far as I'm concerned, there was much to be appreciated in terms of Boris's game. People refer to Becker and Sampras as players with big serves and nothing much else - but anyone who knows tennis properly also knows that this contrary to the truth; they both were excellent all courters given the tools they had at their disposal.

Come on Samprallica, Boris practically invented the bathroom break and was forever trotting off the court to have a pee.

I think it takes a certain amount of maturity staying in a lone relationship in any walk of life, and this is especially more so for a tennis player. They probably wont face the same level of temptation that a footballer or a movie star will, but with the level of dedication and commitment needed - on an individual level, it must be difficult to share your life with someone else.

Like i've said many times it's the changes needed in Murray's concentration and game strategy, not as much his personal life, if he is ever to win a slam.

Yes he did, ed, but Nadal and Djokovic used to take over 20s in between points on more than a regular basis. If Becker was disrupting the opponent, so were these two. Btw, Becker wasn't breaking any rules technically. These two were ;)

BB is correct. He's a baby who still plays with his playstation. LOL

pennster, the average age of gamers is said to be 35.

So much for that.

lol, what has being with the same gf have to do tennis maturity?
what a clown comment.

actually teenagers are the ones that switch gfs every couple weeks, when ur 23+ u tend to settle down more.

freedomsstain: have no problem at all with you commenting on Andy on court. It's BBB commenting on his private life that I particularly object to. BTW I think you're wrong. I think Andy is such a perfectionist that when he's not playing so well he gets totally frustrated and angry with himself, hence this self-destructive behaviour. Totally agree though, it needs to be channelled. It's the ONE area I think a coach could be useful!
alex: Oh no, painster's back! At least Andy is winning at the mo. :)

There is nothing wrong with Andy Murray. He hasn't won a GS yet, but let's face it, that is no easy task ever, let alone in the age of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal. Boris B won his first Wimbledon against Kevin Curren, for Pete's sake! When has Andy gotten a break like that? Lendl, Sampras, Edberg, Andre & co. gave more openings than Roger and Rafa, who have dominated GS finals in a way that no two other players ever have. It's not fair to say Andy has no mental toughness because he lives in the era of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, two men who's toughness, particularly in big event finals, is nothing short of legendary. For Djokovic and Del Potro to have been able to sneak in and pick up 1 Major each is an incredible feat on the part of both men. In 2008 Nole was the first man to win a Major other than Roger or Rafa since 2005! Seven Majors later, Delpo got his shot. Now Roger/Rafa stand with 25 of the last 30 Majors won. That's just ridiculously unheard of! Aside from the aforementioned Nole and Delpo, only Roddick, Safin and Gaudio have been able to pick up a single Major each during this 7-year span, which has no signs of ending just yet.