Can Boris Becker's business rally in face of £700,000 debts? It's never wise to write him off: RICHARD EDEN

He's barred from Britain, says he’s lost 95 per cent of his friends and is engaged in what seems a perpetual battle about money with the second of his three wives.

But it’s never wise to write off – even when exiled from the commentary box at where, in 1985, he became the youngest ever men’s champion at just 17.

Declared bankrupt in 2017 despite amassing career earnings of £38million, he was jailed five years later when found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of hiding £2.5million worth of trophies and assets instead of repaying debt.

But Becker, 58, who was deported after serving eight months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence, still has one British company ‘in play’ – BB Private Office Ltd. And his proverbial doubles partner is evidently determined to keep it that way.

Fenton Higgins, 74, now controls BB of which Becker was, until his fall from grace, a director and into which he used to deposit his sizeable earnings from television and promotional work.

Even though the company owes very nearly £700,000 – more than £650,000 to His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, according to documents at Companies House – it will still have over £200,000 when those debts are repaid. 

Higgins, who prizes loyalty – ‘to those around me’ – has accordingly sprung into action, applying to the High Court for a Company Voluntary Arrangement which, if granted, would prevent the company from going into liquidation.

It’s unlikely to be a straight sets win: HMRC has just filed a winding-up petition against BB. Such a petition forces a company to close unless its debts are paid.

Becker, who has two sons by his first wife, Barbara, another by his second wife, Lily, and a daughter by former Nobu waitress Angela Ermakova, is barred from returning to Britain under the terms of his deportation.

‘I miss Wimbledon,’ said the three-times champion, now living in Milan with third wife, Lillian, 36, who gave birth to their first child last year. ‘I have a story on every court,’ added Becker. But not just at Wimbledon, Boris...

The smart set's talking about... Earl's girl Hettie and Sasha's really wild wedding reception

Forget New York for Taylor Swift’s wedding jamboree! There’s only one place for the smart set to be this weekend – Liverpool.

The Earl and Countess of Derby’s only daughter, Lady Henrietta Stanley, is due to be married at Liverpool Cathedral this afternoon, with the reception held at her family’s ancestral home, Knowsley Hall.

Hetty, 29, as she’s known to chums, is to exchange vows with Alexander ‘Sasha’ Reviakin, 29, pictured lifting her up shortly after proposing in Andalusia, Spain, last year.

He’s a descendant of newspaper magnate William Berry, the 1st Viscount Camrose.

Lord Derby told me at the time of her engagement: ‘It will be very exciting to host a family wedding at Knowsley Hall, which we suspect has not happened for over a century.’ He added: ‘Our beautiful Hetty has looked radiant since the day they started going out.’

Guests will stay in yurts (posh tents) in Knowsley’s 2,500 acres of parkland.

Look out for the wild animals at Knowsley Safari Park, which was opened by the earl’s uncle in 1971.

Crumbs! Boden's bride cake goes for a Burton

With its bright colours and ‘mood-boosting’ patterns, Boden is a clothing label worn by everyone from Sienna Miller to the Princess of Wales that can make all seem well in the world.

Its founder Johnnie Boden, has, however, discovered that not everything runs smoothly all the time.

At the wedding of his daughter Anna, and Oliver Hext, disaster appeared to strike when staff dropped the cake. The bride and groom, and two staff members, gasped as the three-tier cake plummeted to the ground from a set of steps leading to a barnyard. A lurking Welsh terrier wasted no time in sinking its teeth into the cake.

Happily, the slip-up didn’t sour the occasion. Old Etonian Johnnie says: ‘My daughter Anna’s wedding to her new husband Ollie was a wonderful celebration... Lots of joyful tears were shed, not least by me.’

Anna, 31, is a science teacher in west London, while Ollie, also 31, is a wealth manager.

Model Sam quits over fashion's skinny fixation

She starred in advertising campaigns for Burberry, Chanel and Prada, but model Sam Rollinson has revealed she’s now quit the fashion business after growing frustrated with its obsession over skeletal frames.

‘All the models I know have been told to lose weight at some point,’ says the 31-year-old from Doncaster, South Yorkshire. ‘When I was doing most of my catwalks, I was in my late teens, early 20s, so it wasn’t an issue then because I was really thin, naturally. I ate what I wanted, I drank what I wanted.

‘When I started getting into my late 20s, you obviously start turning into a woman, and there are uncomfortable conversations with agents telling you to lose weight because then you’ll get more work.’

The Vogue cover star, who is married to TV presenter Matt Richardson, adds: ‘When you do runway shows, the sizes are one size – and if you can’t fit into the outfit, you’re simply not going to do the show. The measurement they want to see is a 35 [inch] hip.

‘That is the reason why all models are so thin – that is just the way the designers make the clothes.

‘Ultimately, that is one of the reasons I stopped modelling. I just thought, “I don’t want to be doing this any more. I don’t want to have my work based on if I have two inches on my hips that I shouldn’t”.’

Meghan ex at Wimbledon

I wonder if the Princess of Wales bumped into Meghan Markle’s husband during her visit to Wimbledon? I’m not referring to Prince Harry, 41, who is not due in Britain until next week, but to Meghan’s first husband, Trevor Engelson, who beat him to it.

I spotted US television producer Engelson, 49, at the All England Club with his second wife, Tracey Kurland, 40, whom he married in 2019. While Harry has broken confidences in his tawdry memoir Spare, discreet Trevor has turned down numerous lucrative offers to speak about his ill-fated three-year marriage to actress Meghan, 44.

(Very) modern manners

Weight-loss jabs may be shrinking diners’ appetites – but not, it seems, Jeremy King’s bottom line. The celebrated London restaurateur, who’s just reopened Simpson’s in the Strand, admits the Ozempic boom could be surprisingly good for business. 

‘Yes, people are having a lot of Ozempic, but if they’re on Ozempic, they’re not going to eat so much, they’re not going to drink so much, so they probably won’t stay so long,’ he says. ‘So I can use the table again – and I’m going to get more covers through.’ 

Woman In Black author Dame Susan Hill has a confession. ‘I sampled cold press coffee for the first time,’ she says. ‘A large cupful later I went into the next-door furniture shop and within minutes bought two lamps and a sofa – the very definition of impulse purchasing.’ 

Dame Susan, 84, adds: ‘A friend told me cold press coffee is known as “pensioners’ crack”.’ 

Hilton: I have three baths (and a shower) a day

Nicky Hilton has discovered a novel way to stay squeaky clean in London.

The American hotel heiress, 42, who moved to Notting Hill earlier this year with her husband, British banking scion James Rothschild, and their three children, admits her daily ablutions are not for the time-poor.

‘I take up to three baths per day, followed by a shower,’ explains the younger sister of Paris Hilton. ‘I don’t feel like I can properly start my day without a relaxing bath.’

Her routine has not gone unnoticed at home. She adds: ‘My husband jokes that I’m like a cat because I’m constantly cleaning myself.’

There’s an image.

On Wednesday evening, a long line of guests had formed for The Spectator summer party, held in the magazine’s garden overlooking St James’s Park in London. Tory peer Norman Lamont took one look at the queue and ambled to the front without so much as a ‘do you mind?’ No one among the stunned invitees said a thing.

When, over a glass of Pol Roger, I later challenged Lord Lamont, 84, about his queue-barging, the old boy flashed a beatific smile and asked, ‘Why not?’