Boris Becker denied he has run out of money and insisted he could still pay his debts as he spoke out for the first time at the weekend about being declared bankrupt.

“It’s crazy to think I’m broke,” Mr Becker told Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper. “I have enough national and international deals to earn an income that will allow me to pay my staff on time and carry on my life as normal.

“I'm going to Zurich this evening, I’m going to check into a hotel and pay my own bill. If I was insolvent, I couldn’t do that. If I take a taxi, I'll pay for it. And believe me, I haven’t stolen a thing.”

The 49-year-old former tennis star remains one of the most recognisable names in world sport decades after he won the Wimbledon men’s singles title three times — the first at the age of just 17.