A newly engaged Boris Becker offers some free coaching to Roger Federer: drop Davis Cup and quit being so nice to Rafael Nadal.

He also diagnoses Federer with a Nadal-Komplex (is that a disease or a tennis player?) and gets a good dig in at Lleyton Hewitt. Becker also finds parallels with his own career – really fascinating stuff.

Wait, is Boris Becker just offering friendly advice or is he angling to be Roger Federer’s next coach? Get in line, buddy. . .

Becker’s article appeared last week in the Swiss newspaper, Blick. I’ve done my best with google translate and the help of a Fed fan. Click here for the original article. (And click here for more on Boom Boom’s engagement)

“Roger, drop Davis Cup!”

By Boris Becker | 15:38 | 22.02.2009
Roger Federer is in the most difficult phase of his career. Here’s what “Ex-Tennis-Crack” Boris Becker advises to the multiple Laureus World Sportsman winner.

This phase that Roger Federer is in is not easy. I can feel what is happening. But I’m convinced that it’s not a crisis. It’s much more a pure Nadal complex.

Federer is motivated, he radiates joy when playing. This was seen in Melbourne. He was superior to his opponents, played freely. And then came Nadal. I can see it, he visibly cramps up. This is due to Roger’s lack of experience playing against players who can meet him eye-to-eye.

Federer was untouchable for many years. He didn’t know this situation of having a real opponent. Suddenly, Nadal appeared in Paris. And this was probably an ‘Aha!’ experience for both. Someone came from zero to a hundred into his kingdom and now this person has even defeated Roger on a hard court. Such defeats sit deep.

For me one of the worst defeats was in the semifinals at Roland Garros, when I clearly led against Stefan Edberg before he took me in the fifth set. That stayed with me. It took a while for me to process it. Young challengers are tough to overcome mentally. When I saw Sampras rising at Wimbledon, I brooded over the situation for a long time. It was almost like a midlife crisis for me, you start thinking that he is younger, faster, unspent. You focus everything on that one player and how to play him, no longer playing instinctively, thinking too much.

Like Federer in Melbourne. He broke immediately, but lost his service again. That was an exclamation point of nervousness. But I am convinced that Nadal is not shortening Roger’s career, but will extend it. For Federer it must have been boring to play against players of the caliber of Hewitt and to win every time. He is an intelligent player who can learn, train even harder.

Borg lost Wimbledon to McEnroe once and then stopped. But Federer sees it as a challenge. What he needs to change is his attitude towards Nadal. I’m always surprised at how nice he is. He can like him off the court but only there. On court he needs to be aware and needs to think: “He cost me the last three or four Grand Slams. Without him I would have long been the greatest in history. He wants to take something away from me. Today he is my worst enemy. And I am his.”

I am convinced that Federer remains motivated. If he eventually starts being eliminated in the semis on a regular basis then he will not be motivated any longer. But as he has been in the last four major finals and has won one of these, this is far from a crisis.

He needs to set priorities. This means that he should leave the Davis Cup. I also did the same, and in Germany they nearly crucified me. But that same year, I became number 1 in the world – and everyone was satisfied.

What do you think? Should Roger Federer take Boris Becker under advisement?

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Photo: Andrew Brownbill/AP

Boris Becker announced his engagement to Dutch model/girlfriend Sharlely “Lilly” Kerssenberg this Saturday on the German TV show “Wetten, dass…?” Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson were on hand to witness the announcement and cheer on as Becker took a Wimbledon-style leap through a flaming heart. Was this an act of contrition for that three month engagement Boris had with another woman last summer?

Here’s the YouTube video, which I’m sure is even better if you know some German. If you just want to see the leap through the flames, fast forward to the end.

People magazine gives us a translation:

With tears in his eyes, tennis legend Boris Becker, 41, announced that he and his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Sharlely “Lilly” Kerssenberg, 30, will marry on June 12.

“We’ve been together for nearly four years and had our ups and downs. … Last summer I lost my way, but she took me back again,” said Becker, on the German TV show Wetten, dass…?, referring to his three-month engagement to Alessandra “Sandy” Meyer-Woelden, 25, a jewelry designer and daughter of his late manager, Axel Meyer-Woelden.

Wetten, dass…? host Thomas Gottschalk, a friend of Becker’s, joked on the live show, “No, not again?” before wishing the pair all the best. Becker then invited him to the wedding.

Becker and the Dutch Kerssenberg, a sometime model, plan to wed in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the swank ski resort town where in January they had first confirmed that they were together again.

Kerssenberg told Gottschalk that Boris’s ex-wife, Barbara Becker, 42, is very happy for them, and revealed that Barbara and her fiancé, Arne Quinze, 37, an artist from Belgium, may have something more in common with them: “They’re getting married on the same day!” (However, Barbara Becker and Arne Quinze were not on the show to confirm.)

Alles gute and viel glück! You two are going to need it. . .

Photo: Reuters