Boris Becker sympathises with Tiger Woods

Reuters

TOP MATCH: Retired tennis player Boris Becker of Germany and his wife, Dutch model Lilly Kerssenberg, pose for photographers at a Berlin fashion show in 2009.

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Former tennis champion Boris Becker says he sympathises with Tiger Woods, whose life is in turmoil after he admitted cheating on his wife.

Becker, 42, who fathered a child with a Russian model after a brief sexual encounter in a cupboard at a London restaurant while his wife was pregnant, said he could identify with the golf star.

"I experienced exactly the same and I can sympathise with him," the German newspaper Bild quoted Becker, winner of six grand slam titles, as telling a TV show to be aired today (NZ time).

Becker, who had a messy divorce and became the butt of jokes for his flings, said he believed it would be "damned hard" for father-of-two Woods to save his marriage to Swede Elin Nordegren.

Woods, 33, has announced he is taking an indefinite break from golf to try to save his marriage.

- Reuters