Tennis Legend Boris Becker Signs With IMG
2/3/05 5:04

Tennis legend Boris Becker announced today that he is signing with IMG, effective immediately.

The world�s largest sports marketing and management agency will now exclusively represent the former three-time Wimbledon champion in the UK and the US.

In addition to tennis and other commercial opportunities, IMG is also looking to develop Becker�s television career via its broadcasting arm TWI.

Becker , who was twice ranked World number One and has a total of six Grand Slam titles plus an Olympic Gold Medal, said: �I am extremely pleased to be associated with IMG, the market leader in its field. I am also looking forward to further develop my media career and believe there is no-one better placed to do that than TWI, not only because of its sports pedigree but also its success in other TV genres.�

Bob Kain, President of IMG, said: � We are delighted to welcome  Boris to IMG and TWI. He is an immense talent and we are looking forward to working with him.�

Becker, 37, has been one of the most charismatic sports personalities ever since he became the youngest Wimbledon champion at age 17 in 1985. He went on to win at the famous grass courts again in 1986 and 1989 and also added two Australian Opens (1991 and 1996) and the US Open (1989) to his titles. Three times tennis Masters champion, he also enjoyed two Davis Cup victories with Germany and won the Olympic Gold doubles with Michael Stich in Barcelona in 1992. Altogether he had 49 tournament victories on the ATP tour and his career prize money totalled more than $25 million.

Becker  retired from professional tennis in 1999. Today he lives in Switzerland where his company BBCO is based. He is also co-owner of V�lkl Tennis GmbH, partner of DaimlerChrysler and owns three car dealerships. Boris Becker is editor of the tennis magazin and runs various talk-show formats on German sports-channel DSF. He is a tennis commentator for the BBC London and columnist for �The Times� in England. In 2004, together with his partner Hans-Dieter-Cleven, Boris set up his own Foundation, the Cleven-Becker-Stiftung. He is also chairman of the Laureus Sports for Good Foundation, a board member of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and supporter of Michael Jordan�s Foundation as well as chairman of the Tennis Masters Hamburg Rothenbaum.

Notes:

IMG is the world�s premier sports and lifestyle management and marketing firm.  IMG is also commercially involved in an average of 11 major sports and cultural events around the world every day; represents the interests of major corporations; is the world�s largest non-character licensing firm, and is a leading literary agency and book packager.  In addition, IMG Artists is a top global performing arts management firm; IMG owns and operates top sports and fitness academies, and IMG Models is the world�s number one international model management firm.  IMG Consulting works with many of the world�s largest corporations on marketing and sponsorship programs; its stadium and arena group works with leagues and franchises worldwide, and TWI Interactive, the Internet arm of IMG, is a worldwide leader in digital sports and entertainment.

IMG�s global clients include the Australian Rally Championship, Jennifer Capriati, , Ernie Els, Chris Evert, Sergei Fedorov, Sergio Garcia, Gisele, Jeff Gordon, the GRAMMYS�, Scott Hamilton, the International Olympic Committee, Michael Johnson, Major League Baseball, Manchester United, John McEnroe, Kate Moss, Jack Nicklaus, The Nobel Foundation, Oxford University, Arnold Palmer, Itzhak Perlman, Philips, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, the Royal Horticultural Society, Rugby World Cup, Pete Sampras, Michael Schumacher, Vijay Singh, Annika Sorenstam, Picabo Street, the Sydney Opera House, Liv Tyler, the Spanish Riding School, USGA, the U.S. Olympic Committee, Wembley National Stadium, Venus Williams, Wimbledon and Tiger Woods.

TWI, IMG�s television arm, is the largest independent distributor and producer of televised sports, managing a library of more than 250,000 hours; and TWI annually produces and distributes 6,500 hours of original programming to more than 200 countries covering 240 sports. It also produces factual and entertainment programmes including the award-winning Colour of War documentary series, and I�d Do Anything, an original TWI format which has been sold or optioned in more than 25 countries around the globe including the US and Russia.

Media enquiries: Madeleine Pallas, PR Manager for European Operations
IMG/TWI - tel:  +44 (0) 20 8233 7425/ mob: +44 (0) 7973 326 422 or email:
[email protected]
or
Linda Dozoretz/Jennifer Wolfe:  Linda Dozoretz Communications
+ 1 (323) 656-4499 or email:  [email protected]

 

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