Twenty-nine years ago today, Boris Becker celebrated his last major tennis match. His epic Masters battle against Pete Sampras was the best match of his career.
Boris Becker is once again the talk of the town these days. First, he engaged in a few public verbal skirmishes with Alexander Zverev, then over the weekend he announced the birth of his fifth child. It is fall 2025. And anyone who still remembers Boris Becker as an active tennis pro will recall those November days when he was still making sporting headlines.
On November 24, 1996—29 years ago today—he played one of those matches that cemented his position as one of the greatest German sports stars of his time and made him a tennis icon to this day.
If you ask him, it was even THE match of his career. “That was the best tennis match I’ve ever played in my life,” Becker once said about the 1996 ATP Masters final against the then world number one, Pete Sampras.
Becker: “The best tennis match I’ve ever played in my life.”
Becker had already experienced a lot at that point: he had celebrated epic victories, won Wimbledon three times, won three other Grand Slam titles, and triumphed twice with Germany in the Davis Cup.
But none of these successes mattered on that November Sunday, which was to mark not only the crowning glory of a very special career, but also the legacy that Becker left behind in his home country.
The fact that the unofficial tennis world championship was held in Germany in the 1990s had a lot to do with Becker’s successes.
After six years in the banking metropolis of Frankfurt, the prestigious event moved to Hanover.
Even in Hanover, Becker sparked unprecedented euphoria.
And even there, in the comparatively unexciting capital of Lower Saxony, Becker sparked a level of euphoria that would be unimaginable at a tennis match in Germany today.
As soon as the protagonists entered the packed Exhibition Hall 2, the 15,000 fans created an atmosphere with deafening chants of “Boris, Boris” that Becker later described as follows: “I had goosebumps all over, it was really indescribable. I had never felt anything like it on the tennis court before. I had to rein in my emotions so that I could concentrate on the match at all.”
The enormous expectations on that day also had to do with the fact that Becker had already defeated the big favorite Sampras twice in tiebreaks in the preliminary round at the same venue a few days earlier.
Of course, hopes were high in Hanover that Becker, who was already in the autumn of his career, would once again rise to the occasion for a big fight.
Four hours of “tennis from another planet”
They were not to be disappointed. For exactly four hours, Becker and Sampras hammered balls back and forth at each other. The American—record Grand Slam winner before the era of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic—lived up to his nickname “Pistol Pete.”
But Becker, who had turned 29 just a few days before this match, fought back against his younger opponent with everything he had. And how!
Right in his first service game, he whipped four aces in a row into his opponent’s court. The German won the first set 6-3. The spectators were already on their feet.
And yet they had only seen the beginning of an epic battle. What followed would later go down in history as “tennis from another planet.” At least, that was the clear echo in the media.
Both players continued to fight for every inch and thrilled the spectators with powerful and precise shots. Neither of them lost a single service game in the following two sets. As a result, sets two and three went to tiebreaks, with Sampras coming out on top twice to suddenly lead 2-1.
In the fourth set, Becker earned two break points right at the start with powerful returns. The crowd went wild, but Sampras remained cool and held his serve again.
Becker saves match points but still has to admit defeat
Since Becker also held his own on his own serve, the match went to a tiebreak again – and finally turned into a thriller. The momentum changed with practically every rally. Sampras had match point twice. Becker countered, had set points of his own – and was able to even the score at 2:2 after a rare volley error by Sampras. 13:11 in the tiebreak. In the fifth set, the American finally managed his first break of the match. 5:4. But Becker kept at it, forcing his opponent into another seemingly endless rally. The ball flew over the net 23 times before Becker’s backhand got caught in it.
Sampras celebrated his third Masters title after the fourth match point. But the ovations belonged to Becker. His attempt to win the tournament for the fourth time failed in dramatic fashion.
However, the match made him an even greater legend than he already was.
