Ion Tiriac watched the goings-on for a full five hours, of course not making a face, he never did that.
{
“placeholderType”: “MREC”
}
Five hours in which Argentina’s gifted tennis poet Guillermo Vilas chased a teenager with baby fat and red hair across the court under the piercing sun at the Monte Carlo Country Club, from right to left, forward, back, further, further and further.
“I almost puked,” Boris Becker would later remember. The 17-year-old Leimener of all time was only 15 at the time, and Tiriac was also significantly younger. Today Becker’s former money printing machine is now 85 years old.
“The boy will play Wimbledon someday”
When the ordeal is over, Tiriac goes to Günther Bosch. “Günther, we have to talk to the parents. The boy will win Wimbledon one day,” he says.
{
“placeholderType”: “MREC”
}
A little later, sometime in the fall of 1983, they met at the airport hotel in Frankfurt/Main. Tiriac, the manager with the license to raise money, Bosch, who is unconditionally dedicated to the red-haired boy as a trainer, and the Becker family from Leimen: father Karl-Heinz, mother Elvira and their son Boris. On that day, Karl-Heinz and Elvira lose their second born to Germany.
And so the story started. Becker played, Bosch trained, Tiriac procured contracts and money. Romania’s former national ice hockey player became a stroke of luck for German tennis. Becker cashed in, the German Tennis Association cashed in, and Count Dracula with the black lion’s mane and huge mustache cashed in handsomely.
Tiriac once worked on the assembly line
Tiriac comes from Kronstadt in Transylvania, where he worked on the assembly line of a ball bearing factory. He lived on the same street as Günther Bosch, who also worked in the same factory. Bosch liked to play tennis and played it well, Tiriac not so much, he was initially more into ice hockey, so his colleague gave him a few coaching lessons.
Later, Tiriac, although not blessed with a God-given talent, played Davis Cup for Romania and, together with his compatriot Ilie Nastase, won the doubles competition at the French Open in 1979.
{
“placeholderType”: “MREC”
}
Tiriac suffers a stroke of fate early on
Ion Tiriac didn’t have an easy start in life; his father died when he was nine years old. He had to fight his way to the top on his own, and he did so quite consistently. He owns apartments in major cities around the world, car dealerships, a sensational classic car collection, banks, private jets and real estate companies. He is estimated by the US magazine Forbes to be worth around $2 billion in May 2024.
6200b44ff45d5681791dedb2a192b81d2c913e97
He has always shared a large part of his wealth with those who are not on the sunny side. Many orphanages in his homeland bear his name. But he is and has never been without controversy, and his hunts with business friends drove animal rights activists all over the world to the barricades.
In his old age, Tiriac is still active, including in sports. Most recently he organized the “Tiriac Open” in Bucharest and met Becker again on the sidelines of the tournament. A connection that is still strong after many years.