AUDIO: Live report: How Stitch won Wimbledon in 1991 (1 minute)
Pinneberger on the tennis Olympus
Accessed: July 7, 2026, 2:19 p.m.
Victory on the hallowed court of Wimbledon is what every tennis professional dreams of. For Michael Stich this became a reality in 1991. The man from Pinneberg won the final against his main competitor Boris Becker.
All Michael Stitch could do in the first moment after his greatest triumph was a sharp cry. The tall, lanky guy from Schleswig-Holstein fell to his knees. Below him is the sacred lawn of Wimbledon, above him there is only the sky. Exactly 35 years ago, on July 7, 1991, the then 22-year-old rose to the top of tennis and won the most important tournament in the world.
In the final, the gifted and quiet northern German met with the bright luminary of German tennis – Boris Becker. But the Leyman native, who always called Center Court on Church Road his “living room”, had no chance that day. Stich celebrated a well-deserved victory with a score of 6:4, 7:6 (7:4), 6:4.
“Game, set, Becker match”?
Only one person in the sold-out arena could not classify the earthquake in German tennis. “Game, set, match Becker,” referee John Bryson said. This mistake somehow fit into Stitch’s career. Even at the highest peak, he was somehow eclipsed by the public’s favorite Becker.
His technique was brilliant, his feel for the ball was amazing: Michael Stich is one of the outstanding German tennis players. The Pinneberg native won Wimbledon, the ATP World Championship and the Davis Cup.
Becker, a year older than him, had no chance in the final, but even in his most bitter defeat he left the crowd on their feet. On the contrary, Stich entered the collective memory of the German tennis nation not as a hero, but rather as a cold-blooded professional.
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Three-time champion Becker tearfully begged the ball: “Over, over!” It didn’t help. Stitch fended off every attack with ruthless efficiency and showed not the slightest hint of nervousness in his first Grand Slam final. It was delightful how the North German, who had arrived at Church Road as a French Open semi-finalist, returned, strode elegantly along the baseline and defied the unique atmosphere in front of Princess Diana.
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On the other hand, Becker, as usual, dived for hopeless balls, but time after time he was late and crashed with a crash on the ice block of Stich, who won a duel in the semi-finals in four exciting sets against the even tougher Swede Stefan Edberg.
No storms of celebration, just pity for Becker.
Michael Stich (left) and Boris Becker drink champagne in 1991.
Despair was written all over Becker’s face in the first minutes of his interview after the awards ceremony. There was “one match too many” in the final, he muttered into the English television microphone as Stitch waited motionless and patient in the background.
The winner then gave a lucid analysis of the historic match – in his greatest moment of sporting success – in impeccable English. The All England Club fans should have doffed their elaborately draped hats in admiration, but instead of cheers there were murmurs of pity for the loser.
Stitch calmly enjoys his triumph
Tennis icons face each other: Michael Stich (left) and Boris Becker in 2026.
The fact that Becker got the lion’s share of the attention – winner or loser – didn’t bother Stitch. Just as he never complained, at least publicly in the years after winning Wimbledon, about his status as the clear No. 2 behind People’s Tribune Becker. He quietly enjoyed his triumph, the subsequent champions’ dinner with Steffi Graf and, presumably, also the video footage of his father Detlef stubbornly pointing a video camera at the ceremony on the lawn.
35 years after the historic duel that started the great rivalry between them, Stich essentially said goodbye to tennis. After resigning as director of the Hamburg Rothenbaum tournament, he took care of his foundation and lived his life as an artist.
Stich likes to leave the spotlight, which Becker still strives for as a tennis icon, to others. But even Stitch sometimes makes an exception for Wimbledon. On the 35th anniversary of his greatest triumph, he, like Becker, stands at the microphone as a TV pundit on the Lawn Classic program.
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