Benjamin Becker isn’t ashamed of showing his emotions on a tennis court. The 25-year-old German broke down crying on the English grass last summer when he defeated Switzerland’s Ivo Heuberger to qualify for Wimbledon. After ending Andre Agassi’s career at the 2006 US Open, Becker tried but couldn’t hide his joy, smiling from ear to ear before covering his face.

Becker’s had a lot to be happy about lately. In February alone, he debuted for the German Davis Cup team, reached two ATP semifinals and defeated
former world No. 1’s Marat Safin and Gustavo Kuerten. After ending 2005 ranked 477^th, he is enjoying a career-high ranking at No. 40, having made the biggest jump into the ATP’s top 100 of all men’s players last season.

But there was a time when Becker’s tears weren’t cried for joy – a time
when he couldn’t believe that he could make a living as a professional tennis
player. Following his June 2000 high school graduation, he played a series of
tennis tournaments but failed to break inside the top 800.

“I hated playing tennis and I hated traveling by myself,” said Becker,
reflecting on his early playing days in a phone interview from the Memphis International Airport.

As a junior tennis champion in the small German town of Orscholz, Benjamin grew up a fan of Agassi and Boris Becker (no relation). But reaching their level of tennis was no easy task. Becker struggled on the Futures circuit – the ATP’s version of Single-A baseball – where fans, prize money and ranking points are few and far between.

For 10 months, Becker traveled without a coach to Futures events throughout Western Europe and Japan. Often losing in the qualifying rounds, Becker earned about $2,000 for his efforts in 17 tournaments. All that and more went toward paying for meals, airline tickets and run-down dorm rooms.

“All the guys are so hungry out there because they just want to get over that level,” said Becker. “It’s no fun playing on the circuit with no money. You always make a loss; there’s no way you can make a profit playing on the Futures tour.”

Becker failed to earn a main draw victory or a paycheck in his first seven tournaments of 2001. Two losses in Romehad him thinking about getting a job or going to college back home. Just when his playing days seemed over, Becker received a tennis scholarship from Baylor Universityin Waco, Texas.

As a freshman, Becker was an honor roll student who played No. 1 singles for the Bears. Despite rising to the top of the Bears’ tennis team, Becker often wished he was playing soccer with his German buddies instead.

“His love of the game was nonexistent,” said Baylor tennis coach Matt Knoll. “Playing tennis was work, it was drudgery. He was not enjoying it at all. I think he was playing without a purpose before he came here, and even when he came here, his purpose was for the team. It was hard for him to motivate himself.”

It was Becker’s tennis talent that allowed him the chance to study finance and international business in America. But while he was open to learning in the classroom, he wasn’t as eager to improve on the court.

He used his first summer break from Baylor to take a long-awaited break from tennis.

“I just went home and I didn’t play tennis at all,” said Becker. “I put
my rackets in the closet and pulled them out when I left to America.”

The 2003 season ended for Becker and Baylor with a bitter loss at the NCAA Championships. Becker would be returning to Orscholz for the summer again. Only this time, he wasn’t happy that the tennis season was over.

“After we lost against Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, I was so down,” said Becker. “I decided that next season I would give everything I could to win the championship. That was the turning point, practicing not for myself but to help the team win the championship.”

A maturing, motivated 22-year-old Becker led the Bears to the 2004 NCAA national team title on May 25, 2004. He won the NCAA national singles title six days later.

Becker finished his college career in May 2005 as a three-time All-American who set school records with 141 singles and 104 doubles wins in four years. But he wasn’t eager to give professional tennis another chance. The memories of lonely travels and lousy tournaments were still fresh in his mind.

Knoll tried hard to push Becker toward the pros, and ultimately he
succeeded.

“I told him that it was not his fault that he had some talent in tennis,” said Knoll. “It was kind of a gift that he had been given and it just didn’t make sense – since he was young and healthy – not to go out and pursue it and see where it would lead him.”

Without an ATP ranking to his name, Becker made a nervous return to professional tennis on July 10, 2005, reaching just one Futures quarterfinal in his first five tournaments back.

By the time he lost in the final round of qualifying at an October Futures tournament in Laguna Niguel, Calif., Becker harbored thoughts of giving tennis up for good, returning to Baylor for his remaining 12 credits and earning his bachelor’s degree.

“I was already thinking that it was not enough,” Becker said. “Then I somehow got in as the fourth lucky loser, and went on and won the tournament without losing a set.”

Becker won three more Futures titles to progress to the Challengers circuit in 2006, in which he reached three finals in three months. When he walked on the court to play Agassi at the US Open, he was ranked 112nd in the world, an unlikely candidate to end the legend’s career.

“I didn’t think that I really had a chance,” admitted Becker. “But when you walk on the court you always want to win.”

Becker, who stands just 5’10”, pummeled 82 winners and 27 aces past his American idol. He won match point with a 133 mile-per-hour ace on the center service line, put his hands over his face and smiled his disbelief away. After struggling at Futures tournaments around the world with nobody watching, Becker broke through on the game’s biggest stage, inside Arthur Ashe Stadium with Knoll and 23,199 other fans looking on.

“Sometimes when you’re by yourself, when you play some other tournament and it’s quieter, you get nervous,” said Becker. “But at the end of that match I didn’t. I tried to shut off my mind and it really helped me to stay loose out there.”

As a college player, Becker asked himself: “Why get better? Why practice hard?” As a pro, his work ethic has changed directions faster than his trademark inside-out forehand.

“He’s a machine,” said Jean Luc Fontanot, Becker’s coach. “When Benjamin loses one match, he’s in the gym in the next hour because he knows that he has to go for another week.”

Now a mainstay at ATP-level tournaments, Becker’s ranking and earnings rise with every passing week. Since his last match at Baylor, he’s made $335,625 on the ATP Tour. But don’t expect success to get to his head. For a guy who’s had second, third and fourth thoughts about playing professional tennis, he’s not about to lose his love of the game this time around.

“I just want to focus on tennis because I could easily get distracted by thinking about all the things that have happened,” said Becker. “Just to be passing through the Futures and Challengers so fast was a big surprise. I never could have dreamed of a better start to my career.”