Boris Becker wants to sell his estate in Mallorca. Really, he does, though you
would be forgiven for thinking that he hasn’t quite reconciled himself to
the reality that if he can find a buyer willing to hand over at least £10m,
the houses, gardens, swimming pool, paddocks, farm and tennis court, of
course, will no longer be part of his life.
Becker is even still refining the spread: gym equipment for the new exercise
room in the pool house and mats for the adjoining yoga room are due shortly.
No, the three-times Wimbledon winner doesn’t actually do yoga, but “I
stretch a lot”.
As we tour the property on 75 secluded acres in the north of the island, the
story of Son Coll emerges, and with it the twists and turns of Becker’s own
life. The tennis star, who won Wimbledon for the first time aged 17, is
staring 40 in the face and letting go of a dream. The family retreat he
worked so hard to create is, sadly, surplus to requirements. “The whole idea
was a family house, but now, my two boys are in Miami and my daughter is in
London, so that’s two or three weeks a year here, and that’s it,” he says.
For anyone still unaware of the story, Becker had a brief sexual encounter in
1999 in the London restaurant Nobu with Angela Ermakova, a Russian-Alge-rian
model; it produced a daughter, Anna, now seven. He gave them his west London
flat, then valued at £800,000, as part of the eventual paternity settlement.
His wife, Barbara Feltus, mother of his sons – Noah, now 13, and Elias, 7 –
divorced him, and kept their £1.8m Miami house.
“Ten years ago,” he says now, “my private life was a little different.” As was
Son Coll, tucked away down miles of dirt track near the small town of Arta.
“My best friend, Carl-Uwe Steeb, the German tennis player, had a finca 10
minutes from here, and I used to come and see him. His friend showed me one
parcel of land he had for sale. I said, how many do you have? Eight? Thank
you very much. I got them all.” He says he can’t remember what he paid in
May 1997 for the adjoining plots of arid scrub, just that “at the time, it
was very little money”. German press reports claim it was about £300,000.
“There was nothing but this old finca with pigs in it. It was completely
run-down,” he says. “I thought, the farmer must have built it here for a
reason: it’s because the sun comes up on the left and sets down here” – he
sweeps his arm down the hillside to the right – “so I had to include this
house and build round it to preserve tradition.”
Now immaculately restored and used for guests, the house, with a relaxed
modern decor that includes dramatic pieces of Kenyan tribal art, sits on a
corner of the plaza Becker has created at the heart of his estate. Becker
himself lives in a fourbed main house, a two-storey colonnaded affair, the
length of half a dozen terraced houses, that dominates the northern aspect
of the square. Single-storey guest houses and garages, an old bread oven and
a shady terrace under a spreading oak line the other sides. In traditional
style and old local stone, with mature trees in the plaza and surrounded by
gardens and terraces, the complex looks timeless. But apart from the finca,
it’s all new – and it was not achieved without controversy.
A few years after he bought Son Coll, it was reported that Becker had flouted
Mallorcan planning laws, and that the authorities had made him pull down new
buildings and pay huge fines – up to £280,000, said one source. Perhaps the
money wasn’t important to tennis’s first truly super-rich star, who had
earned an estimated £100m by the time he retired in 1999 (he wouldn’t
confirm the figures). What hurt was the attitude of the authorities.
“My only plan was to be here in time for a millennium party,” he says. “But in
November 1999, just as I was about to move in, they said, ‘You can’t . . .’
Well, it took them two years to explain why. I got embroiled in politics.”
He thinks that the change of government, to a left-of-centre party that, he
says, didn’t like him (because of his nationality, riches or fame, he
wonders), scuppered his plans. Progress was slow, until they were voted out
in 2003, and “all of a sudden, it was fine”.
“Their story was that I built too big, but when you see the scale of the whole
property, you wonder. I have no neigh-bours; I’m not spoiling a view.” Small
adjustments included removing the first floor at the end of the main house –
depriving his boys of a playroom next to their bedrooms – and exposing a
terrace at the other end. “They used to fly over in a helicopter to have a
look. So I took it off. I’m going to put up a sail to make this a place to
watch the sunset.”
Becker takes pleasure in what he has achieved. “I come from a family of
architects and interior designers. I was on a building site before I was
playing tennis. So I was very much involved.” He chose the theme of the main
home: “I was inspired by the city of Marrakesh, the colours and the mosaics
– a lot of the furniture and fabrics are from there.” Framed family snaps
cluster on antique inlaid cabinets, and the television room has intricate
mosaic work on its floor and walls – “Someone sat here for a month to do
that.”
We go outside so he can show me what the land looked like before: we gaze down
the hill at the dusty sun-baked scrub and parched trees, then back at the
terraces of well-tended lemon, orange, olive and lime trees on verdant
lawns, stretching to a 35-metre pool and an ochre and terracotta pool house.
“It’s Arabic-influenced, and I like the way it changes colour all day long
as the sun moves round. The idea was to keep a vista so, from the pool, you
can look through the pool-house atrium across the lawn to my little
coliseum”. There is a charming mini-amphitheatre here, although its purpose
is unclear.
Becker’s political adversaries returned to power in May, but he insists his
troubles are over and that his property has all the correct legal permits.
His main home is in Zurich and, from November to March, he lives in an
apartment in the luxurious Setai hotel complex on Miami Beach. Not the kind
of chap who likes to live on a building site, it wasn’t until May last year
that Son Coll was in a fit state for him to move in. When he did, he had a
housewarming party for 200 guests in the plaza.
The central compound, girded by curving stone walls like a mini bastide,
is the heart and soul of the place, but there’s plenty more to see. We hop
into a black Mercedes (besides a posttennis career of television appearances
and commentary and branded sports gear, Becker owns three Mercedes
dealer-ships near Berlin) and raise a cloud of dust over the bountiful
vegetable plot, en route to a cluster of guest houses. “When I used to
travel with my family, because of kidnap threats [that his former wife was
mixed race enraged some German extremists], it was always with two or three
bodyguards, so this was for them. That was the original idea.”
Nearby is the house of Angela and Tomio, who run the estate and the farm.
Becker is a bit hazy on the finer details of animal husbandry, such as what
breed of pigs he owns, but he obviously loves the whole setup, snatching
handfuls of feed for the goats and running alongside the sheep pen with his
arms in the air till the animals join in. We move on to inspect the 15
Andalusian horses. “In my past life, I must have been a cowboy. Your mindset
changes when you come here. Stress and city life don’t matter,” he says
quietly.
But there’s a strain of melancholy, too. At the neglected tree house and
adventure playground, the absence of children is palpable. There’s a
full-size basketball court that, when his sons are here, the three of them
“play on every day”. But they’re not here.
Still, the man who once declared “fatherhood is the best thing in my
life” cheers up when we reach the tennis court, the surface of which is made
of the same cushioned acrylic material used for the Australian Open in
Melbourne (grass is not well suited to the Mallorcan climate, while clay is
unforgiving on middle-aged knees). In a reminder of past triumphs, the net
poles, appropriately enough, are “the original ones from No 1 Court at
Wimbledon”.
Becker wants to spend one last summer at Son Coll, then, he says, “have a
decent family guy come in October and take over”. He plans to downsize to a
smaller, more manageable place in the Son Vida area. And his children will
be consulted on what kind of house he will buy.
Son Coll is for sale through Kühn & Partner; 00 34 971 222299, www.kuhn-partner.com
Balearic style
Sa Vinya is a traditional estate set in 11 acres near Puerto Andratx, to the
southwest of the island. It has a fourbed house with harbour views, a guest
flat, den, office and triple garage.
For sale for £9.3m, with the Property Finders; 00 34 971 233207,www.thepropertyfinders.com
Set in 35 acres, on the east coast, this restored finca, near Arta, has four
bedroom suites and three reception rooms, including a living room with an
original olive press. The garden hasfountains and a swimming pool.
For sale for £3.37m, with Savills; 020 7016 3740, www.savills.co.uk
Right on the seafront in Font de sa Cala, this villa has its own jetty. The
property, which needs work, has 11 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and three
reception rooms.
For sale for £2.8m, with Savills; 020 7016 3740, www.savills.co.uk
Near Manacor, this four-bedroom villa is built in traditional Mallorcan style
and features reclaimed materials, including doors and ceilings from old
palaces. It has its own golf course and helicopter pad.
For sale for £2.6m, with Pius Müller Gmbh; 00 41 44 388 6500,
www.mspm.net
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