To look now at the Wimbledon legend, Boris Becker, it seems odd to think that it all should never really have happened.

On a sunny afternoon in 1985, Becker became the youngest male champion in the history of The Championships (he was 17 years and 227 days old), the first German winner and the first unseeded player to lift the trophy. He did it by beating Kevin Curren in the final but the very fact that he was there at all was something of a surprise.

The previous year, he had made his Grand Slam debut in SW19 and created quite a stir: he won his opening match for the loss of just four games. But in the third round, he was in the thick of battle with Bill Scanlon on No.2 Court when he raced in for a volley only to collapse in a crumpled heap, howling in pain. He had torn the ligaments in his left ankle and as he was carried off on a stretcher, some did fear for his future.

Coming on the back of his brief introduction to Wimbledon in the junior event in 1983 – he was allowed just six games as Stefan Edberg thrashed him in the first round – Becker’s early memories of the All England Club were not particularly pleasant. Added to which, his parents didn’t want him to bother with this tennis malarkey; they wanted him to concentrate on his schoolwork and grow up to be something sensible like a lawyer or a doctor. Surely, Boris was not meant to be a tennis legend. Oh, but he was.

Even though he was brought up playing on clay, Becker was built for grass. Big and strong with a thumping serve, he was soon named “Boom Boom” by the press. He played tennis in a different way: yes, it was serve and volley but it was his own, unique brand of the art.

He would clatter his serve and then hurtle forward at full pelt to attack the net. And if the ball was not within obvious reach, he would fling himself at it – 85kg of solid muscle flying through the air in pursuit of a winner. By the end of most matches, his knees were scuffed and bloodied and his kit was covered in grass stains (his laundry bills must have been frightening). He bounded and bounced around the court like a kid in a bouncy castle – this was tennis the like of which no one had seen on Wimbledon’s pristine lawns.

In 1985, he had prepared for The Championships by winning the Queen’s Club title (then the Stella Artois Championships); that had given him confidence and suggested that maybe this young lad from Leimen had something about him. Even so, Joakim Nystrom, then world No.8, was supposed to be Becker’s first real test – one that the young man, as the world No.20, was not expected to pass. But he did.

“I played the best grass court match of my life and he still beat me,” Nystrom recalled later that summer having just beaten Becker at the US Open. The Swede had his chances – he served for the match twice – but Boom Boom was not to be stopped. After three hours and 20 minutes, Becker was through to the fourth round 3-6, 7-6, 6-1, 4-6, 9-7. But the drama was not to stop there.

In the next round, Becker faced Tim Mayotte from the United States and was two sets to one down when he fell and twisted his ankle.

"I twisted my ankle so badly that I wanted to shake hands," Becker told the BBC. "But he was too far away from the net, so my coaching team of Ion Tiriac and Gunther Bosch screamed out: 'Take a time out, take a time out, call the trainer'."

Becker did as he was told, came back to win the fourth set tie-break and then ran away with the fifth set 6-2. From that moment on, the champion in waiting felt that the fates were on his side. Six days later, he was sure they were as he beat Curren in four sets and the legend of Boris ‘Boom-Boom’ Becker was born.

 Despite the absence of a Championships this year, there are still plenty of ways you can get into the Wimbledon spirit…

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