Becker and Stich to celebrate Olympic doubles gold - 28 years later

German team captain Boris Becker watches the match between Alexander Zverev of Germany and Alex de Minaur of Australia at the ATP Cup tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Friday, Jan. 3, 2020. Photo: AP Photo/Tertius Pickard

German team captain Boris Becker watches the match between Alexander Zverev of Germany and Alex de Minaur of Australia at the ATP Cup tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Friday, Jan. 3, 2020. Photo: AP Photo/Tertius Pickard

Published Apr 24, 2020

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BERLIN – Former German tennis greats and rivals Boris Becker and Michael Stich plan to finally celebrate their 1992 Olympics doubles gold medal, Stich has said.

"The date and the meal together will definitely happen. Boris and I are completely relaxed about the past," Stich told the DAZN and Spox portals in an interview late Thursday.

Three-time Wimbledon champion Becker and Stich, who famously beat him for the 1991 crown at the All England Club, were mostly bitter rivals during their careers.

But they joined forces occasionally, such as at the 1992 Games in Barcelona where they beat South Africans Wayne Ferreira and Piet Norval for the gold.

"Boris and I only met for practice and the matches at the Olympics. I lived in the Olympic village, he outside of it. After the victory I just wanted to go home quickly," Stich said.

"Was that a mistake? Definitely. I wouldn't do the same thing again today, but I considered it the right thing to do at the time."

Tennis Hall of Fame inductee Michael Stich, of Germany, smiles during a news conference at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Saturday, July 21, 2018, in Newport, R.I. Photo: AP Photo/Elise Amendola

Stich added "we know we owe each other a lot" and said he was "eternally grateful for this success which I could have never achieved without Boris."

Stich also said the expectations from the German public in them were unrealistic but that the rivalry also brought out the best in them.

"We were rivals from the same country. The expectations that we had to be friends just because both of us were from Germany were totally absurd," he said.

"We always wanted to be better than the other one and stand out even more. In this way we spurred each other on to extreme top performances."

DPA

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