On July 7, 1985 a 17-year-old, unseeded Boris Becker became an overnight star, defeating Kevin Curren to win the men's final at Wimbledon. He remains the youngest player to win at Wimbledon. He went on to defend his title in 1986, beating Ivan Lendl in the final, before winning it for a third time in 1989 when he overcame Stefan Edberg.

Before Boris Becker came along, Germany had never won the Davis Cup, This changed in 1988 when Becker and Carl-Uwe Steeb won their doubles match over then-world No. 1 Mats Wilander and reigning Wimbledon champion Stefan Edberg. Becker was also part of the German teams that won the Davis Cup in 1989 and 1993.

In 1990, Becker was named German male athlete of the year for a fourth time. His high-pressure and flexible game was best suited to fast surfaces particularly indoors and on grass. His was a serve-and-volley player and the fans loved him for his specialty, an acrobatic diving volley.

Becker got off to a perfect start in the 1991 season, winning the Australian Open and reaching the top of the men's singles rankings for the first time. The German won a total of 49 singles titles in his career, including six Grand Slams. The French Open, however, eluded him.

At the Barcelona Summer Olympics in 1992, both Becker and his German rival Michael Stich (above, left) were eliminated early from the men's singles. However, they combined to win gold in the men's doubles. "We didn't really talk to each other at all between the rallies," Becker would later say. "We really didn't like each other."

In late 1993 Becker married German-American actress and designer Barbara Feltus. Six years later, she and the rest of the world learned of his broom-closet affair with Russian model Angela Ermakova. The affair produced Becker's third child and led to his 2001 divorce from Barbara.

Boris Becker's last match as a professional tennis player was his defeat to Australia's Patrick Rafter in the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 1999. Becker's career took a high physical toll on him. He has been quoted as saying that "I have two new hips and a 10-centimeter-long (six inches) metal plate in my right ankle, and I have a slight limp."

In 2002, Becker was convicted of evading €1.7 million ($1.9 million) in tax and handed a two-year suspended sentence. The judge had found that although Becker, like many other wealthy celebrities, officially resided in Monaco between 1991 and 1993, he actually spent the bulk of his time in Munich.

In 2007, Becker found himself back in court as the owner of 60 percent of the shares in a company called Sportgate, which had gone bankrupt several years earlier. This time he got off easy, with the judges ordering him to pay just €114,000, far less than creditors had originally demanded.

In 2009, Becker married again, making Sharlely Kerssenberg of the Netherlands his second wife. She is the mother of his fourth child, Amadeus Benedict Edley Luis. They split their time between London and Zurich.

At the end of 2013 most were surprised by the news that Boris Becker had just become Novak Djokovic's new coach. The Serbian, who at the time was the world No. 2, hired Becker in the hope that he could be of particular help with the mental side of his game. Under his German coach, Djokovic went on to return to the No. 1 spot in 2014.

Djokovic and Becker formed a successful partnership, with the Serbian winning six Grand Slam titles under the German's tutelage. It all fell apart in late 2016 though. Becker pointed to a lack of intensity in training as the reason for Djokovic's dip in form. It has also been said that he didn't feel comfortable with the influence on the Serbian of a Spanish spiritual guru.

On June 21, 2017, a London court declared Boris Becker bankrupt after a private bank went to court over a "substantial" sum he owed them. The registrar found that there was a lack of credible evidence the amount would be paid anytime soon. Becker has rejected the notion, telling the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that he was "neither insolvent, nor bankrupt."

All through his ups and downs, Boris Becker has remained the face of men's tennis in Germany. In August 2017, the German tennis federation (DTB) has named him to the newly created post of "head of tennis." In his new role, he is to manage all German men's tennis and oversee the running of the country's Davis Cup team. Barbara Rittner was given a similar role for the women.

Becker, seen here at the 2017 ATP Finals in London, refused to answer when asked by a reporter to say how he planned to celebrate his 50th birthday. "This is a private matter that I will not comment on," he said. In a German television documentary, Becker seemed satisfied with his lot in life. "When I look back at my life... I think, then I have gotten more things right than wrong," he said.

The head of the AfD in Leipzig was the center of controversy in 2016 when newspapers reported that a car in his motor pool had the license plate: "AH 1818." "AH" are the initials of Adolf Hitler. 1 and 8, the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, are considered a code for Adolf Hitler among neo-Nazi groups.

As the AfD's lead candidate in Rhineland-Palatinate, the 28-year-old Münzenmaier cruised to a seat in the Bundestag. Münzenmaier made headlines in October when he was convicted of being an accessory to assault in a case of football hooliganism. But because that's considered a minor offense, he is able to exercise his mandate.

The 75-year-old former CDU man is the AfD's choice for Bundestag vice-president, but members of the other parties say they won't approve his candidacy. Glaser once opined that Muslims shouldn't enjoy freedom of religion because Islam is a political ideology. Critics reject that view as unconstitutional.

Frohnmaier is the chair of the party's youth organization, Junge Alternative. The 28-year-old wrote in August 2016 on Facebook that "our generation will suffer the most" from Merkel's decision to "flood this country with the shoddy proletariat from Africa and the Orient."

The former soldier from Lower Saxony once told a journalist that he had no problem with "Germany for the Germans," a phrase that is often used by neo-Nazi groups. He has also collectively described the Green Party and The Left party as "constitutional enemy No. 1."

The 77-year-old from Brandenburg was vice president of the Federation of Expellees (BdV) until 2012. He wrote in the newspaper "Ostpreussenblatt" in 2001 that he agreed with the statement that the Holocaust was a "myth" and an "effective instrument to criminalize the Germans and their history."

In January, the Dresden judge railed against the "creation of mixed nationalities" that are "destroying national identity." He has also called for an end to Germany's "culture of guilt" surrounding the country's actions in the Second World War.

The AfD's vice-chair is an MP in the European parliament and is known for her hardline conservative views. In 2016, she replied affirmatively to a Facebook user who had asked her whether armed force should be used to stop women with children from illegally entering Germany. She later apologized for the comment.

One of the AfD's top candidates, Gauland was widely criticized after suggesting that the German government's commissioner for integration, Aydan Özoguz, should be "disposed of" in Turkey because she had said that there was no specifically German culture beyond the German language.

The 38-year-old economist was the AfD's other top candidate. Despite living in Switzerland, Weidel ran for the Baden-Württemberg constituency of Bodensee. She drew criticism for describing Germany's integration commissioner Aydan Özoguz, who has Turkish roots, as a "stain" and a "disgrace." In a contested email attributed to Weidel, she called Angela Merkel's government "pigs" and "puppets."

For a long time Frauke Petry was the face of the AfD, and she's one of the more recognizable figures in the Bundestag. But she's no longer a member of the right-wing populist party. Petry quit shortly after the election after falling out with other leaders. Because she won her voting district outright, she still gets a Bundestag mandate, where she sits as an independent.