Becker may remarry Barbara

by ALLAN HALL in Berlin, Evening Standard

Only six months after it cost him #11 million to divorce her, speculation is growing that three-times Wimbledon champion Boris Becker and his ex-wife Barbara are planning to remarry.

The couple have been spending more and more time together with their children in recent weeks and have booked adjoining suites at a hotel in Graz, Austria, for later this week when the 33-year-old tennis star is playing in a veterans' tournament.

Now even Mrs Becker's American lawyer Samuel Burstyn - the man who played such a big part in the February settlement which ended the acrimonious divorce proceedings - has said that marriage second time around cannot be ruled out.

He told Berlin's BZ newspaper the two had made the "first positive steps in the right direction towards a new relationship". He said: "They're open to it. This situation makes it possiblefor her to start a new relationship with Boris."

Mr Burstyn stressed that money was the last thing on 34-year-old Mrs Becker's mind and that she had been won over by her former husband's commitment to her and the children.

He said: "It has always meant a great deal to Barbara that her children love and respect their father. Should they decide on a remarriage I would draw up a pre-nuptial contract to avoid any future disputes."

The Graz holiday will be the third the couple have taken this year. At the start of July the Beckers travelled with sons Noah Gabriel, seven, and Elias Balthasar, 13 months, to spend two weeks in the Bahamas.

Shortly afterwards Becker paid #300 a day to stay with Barbara in a Majorca hotel.

Becker reportedly paid his ex-wife #10 million, gave her their #1.8 million apartment on Florida's Fisher Island, several hundred thousand pounds worth of jewels and is paying #4,000 a month in maintenance for his sons.

On top of that, he was obliged to find a further #1 million from his #200 million fortune to settle a lawsuit over his baby daughter Anna, conceived after a brief fling in the broom cupboard of Nobu restaurant in Park Lane with 33-year-old half-Russian, half-Algerian model Angela Ermakova.

Becker's admission that he was Anna's father was the last straw for Barbara. The marriage was already very rocky and the couple were all butliving apart - he was alleged to be having an affair with rap singer and family friend Sabrina Setlur - w hen Ms Erm a kova dropped her bombshell and Barbara called her law yers.

But friends say Barbara is now softening towards her ex-husband after several heart-to-hearts of the "it will never happen again" variety. She will be by his side and in an adjacent suite at the Wiesner Hotel in Graz on Thursday when he takes on the likes of Bjorn Borg and Pat Cash.

If the Beckers do remarry, they will become just another high-profile couple who have discovered they cannot do without their respective partners once they have legally been cast asunder.

Dame Elizabeth Taylor and the late Richard Burton are perhaps the most famous case in point. Having met on the set of Cleopatra, with Taylor in the title role and Burton as Mark Antony, the couple enjoyed a tempestuous marriage to almost rival their on-screen performances in The Taming Of The Shrew and Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf.

First time around was in Montreal in 1964. That ended in divorce 10 years later. But they quickly remarried - in Botswana - in 1975, only to repent in haste.

Their second and final divorce came less than a year later.

Then there's the Duke and Duchess of York, still living under the same roof in Sunninghill Park, despite the divorce courts ending their 10-year marriage in May 1996 - they had separated in 1992.

According to the Duchess's father, Major Ron Ferguson, the couple "still love each other".

Speculation has it they would like to remarry but that the plan is opposed by the Queen and Prince Philip.

Finally, there is the case of Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger, although they didn't actually marry legally - their 1990 Hindu wedding on Bali was declared "void" at his request in July 1999.

Friends say they are as close as ever and there is every chance they may rekindle their long-running relationship.