Becker’s Divorce Battle With American Wife Rivets Germans

For more than a month, it has been front-page news and the inspiration for television specials and magazine supplements.

What has so riveted Germans is neither the recurring outbreaks of right-wing violence nor the fearful spread of “mad cow” disease. It is the divorce of the country’s most glamorous couple: three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker and his American wife, Barbara.

As with any celebrity breakup, the tabloid media here have been gorging on the gory details of alleged infidelity and marital strife, splashing photographs of the tennis star’s purported mistresses among clandestinely snapped pictures portraying a shattered Babs, as the former actress and model is known to Germans.

But the spotlight trained on the Beckers--the objects of unbridled adoration for so engagingly representing the ideal cross-cultural couple--has exposed a voyeuristic streak in Germany as wide as the Rhine River.

Once the proceedings moved to the open courts of Florida--where Barbara Becker countersued the tennis star, who had first filed for divorce in Munich--German newspapers and magazines have unabashedly taken the jilted wife’s side without any encouragement from her.

In an effort to counter Becker’s claims that the 7-year-old marriage had foundered two years ago, reporters combed hotel registries to show that the couple shared a bed at least as recently as November. Photocopies of a purported prenuptial agreement have been published in apparent efforts to cast Becker, who is said to be worth almost $100 million, as cheap for offering only $2.4 million for alimony and support for the couple’s two children.

The mass-circulation Bild newspaper even ran one story explaining the genetics behind the differing appearances of the mixed-race couple’s sons, 6-year-old Noah and 16-month-old Elias. Noah inherited his mother’s black hair and eyes while his brother is blond and blue-eyed, like his father.

The frenzy reached a crescendo this week when the clash over custody and child support came to a head in a Miami courtroom. Two commercial television stations interrupted regular programming to carry proceedings live to millions of German viewers who would never have gotten a glimpse of the trial had it been held in Munich, as Becker wanted.

Court proceedings in Germany are closed to cameras, although in some high-profile criminal cases photographers are allowed to take pictures for a few minutes before the judge calls the court to order. In a civil matter such as a divorce, even print media have no right of access.

The Beckers’ split and the circus atmosphere surrounding the couple since Barbara Becker took the children home to Florida before Christmas have inspired comparisons here with the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Only the most conservative media have shied away from exhaustive coverage of the “War of the Roses,” as the battle has been dubbed. And even fewer have taken note of the prying nature of German interest in the intimate details of the couple’s disintegration.

“This is the absolute low point for German television,” lamented Fritz Pleitgen, an executive of the state-supported ARD network, as viewers tuned in to competitors in droves for trial coverage.

The head of the German Journalists Assn., Siegfried Weischenberg, also chastised his colleagues for “a crass Americanization of our media behavior.”

But those mutterings have been drowned out by the clamor around the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami, where more than 100 German photographers and film crews have gathered to relate every word spoken and every rumor spread.

Judge Maynard “Skip” Gross on Monday ruled that Barbara Becker would be awarded custody unless and until the pair work out an amicable support and visitation agreement, and proceedings have been suspended until Thursday to allow the couple and their attorneys to work out the details.

“Babs Wins!” Bild screamed across the cover of its Tuesday edition. A day later, it had another sensation for readers addicted to the legal soap opera.

“Babs Has the Kids. Boris Is Alone. And Now Another Paternity Suit From a London Model!” the newspaper trumpeted over pictures of a despondent-looking Boris Becker and a strawberry blond, blue-eyed 9-month-old girl said to be his daughter.