Three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker announced Friday he is claiming diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceedings in Britain as an ambassador for the Central African Republic. Lawyers for the 50-year-old tennis player, a former world number one, lodged a claim Thursday in the High Court asserting immunity after he was appointed a sports attache for the Central African Republic in April. Becker -- who won six Grand Slams in the 1980s and 90s -- was declared bankrupt by a London court in June 2017 for failing to pay a long-standing debt. But his position as attache to the European Union on sporting, cultural and humanitarian affairs could be covered by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. This means the consent of Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his counterpart in Bangui would be needed before Becker is subjected to any legal proceedings, his lawyers said. The bankruptcy application was made by private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co in relation to a debt owed to them by Becker dating to 2015. Becker, however, said: "The decision to commence bankruptcy proceedings against me was both unjustified and unjust.

"A bunch of anonymous and unaccountable bankers and bureaucrats pushed me into a completely unnecessary declaration of bankruptcy, which has inflicted a whole heap of damage on me, both commercially and professionally, and on those close to me," he added, in a statement issued by his lawyers. "I have now asserted diplomatic immunity as I am in fact bound to do, in order to bring this farce to an end, so that I can start to rebuild my life." A spokesman for Arbuthnot, contacted by AFP in London, declined to comment. When asked about Becker, European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told a daily news briefing in Brussels on Friday: "We have neither been involved in this appointment, nor been asked for EU accreditation. "So as concerns the role he is playing, maybe best to ask your questions to the authorities of the Central African Republic."