Boris Becker has described the "screaming, fear and freezing, mould-infested cells" of Wandsworth prison

He was released in December 2022 after serving eight months of his sentence and in his new autobiography Inside has gives a raw account of his first nights at Wandsworth prison, just two miles from Wimbledon where he became the youngest men's singles champion in 1985.

In an extract from the memoir printed by the Daily Mail he said: "On your first night in prison, it's the screaming that cuts you deepest.

"Screaming like someone is hurt. Like they need help. Like someone is dying. You don't know where it's coming from, it's just out there in the gaps between the bright fluorescent lights of the halls and the darkness of the cells."

He added: "Perhaps worse than the screaming itself, as it echoes round this cold cell, with its mould and dirty toilet bowl, is the not knowing why it's happening.

"Are these men asleep with nightmares, or awake and raging? Sometimes you get ten minutes of quiet and you go back to your bunk and thin blanket and try to fit your body into the strange contours and confines of a mattress shaped by a hundred strangers.

"But it always begins again, triggering more shouts from other cells, an endless rally between opponents who can't see each other but want to destroy each other just the same."

Boris also said about his views on doing time: "This is torture. Surviving it all is an impossibility. I'm in a cage with a bunch of psychopaths."

The former Wimbledon champion also described in painstaking detail how he was taken into custody after sentencing.

He said: "The guard at the back of the dock had a nice politeness about him even in this moment.

"He asked me to pick up the bag I'd packed - bearing the logo of Puma, my old sponsors, but not free this time, a cheap bag picked up from Sports Direct just a few days before.

"Then he accompanied me down the steps.

"Swapping off my Ralph Lauren suit, unknotting my Wimbledon tie... the two shaving razors I had packed were taken away. So were the nail scissors. The bottle of aftershave - well, who tries to take aftershave to prison but a man who has no idea about prison?"

The book also recounts the moment his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, 35, and his son Noah supported him at court.

Boris said: "I looked over and saw Lilian crying and the sadness on my son's face. There was no last embrace, no physical contact.

"No final kiss. Lilian and Noah walking down from the gallery and to the dock; me putting my palm up on the glass. Lilian mirroring me and matching her palm to mine. Noah doing the same. The hardest part of all."

Inside by Boris Becker is published on 25 September by HarperCollins.