LONDON -- Boris Becker has a lot of work to do before he is ready for Wimbledon. The former world No. 1, playing his first match in more than three weeks, was upset 7-5, 7-6 (10-8) by Britain's Jeremy Bates Tuesday in the second round of the Queen's Club grass-court tournament. "I hoped to win a couple of matches here," the three-time Wimbledon champion said, "but I don't regard this as a setback to my (Wimbledon) plans." Still, Becker is considering a change in his itinerary as he prepares for the All England Championships starting June 20. Becker said he may return home to Germany for the Halle grass-court tournament starting Monday. "I am not the sort of person who needs to play a lot of matches to get my game together," Becker said. It has been a rough 1994 for Becker. The loss to Bates, ranked No. 94 in the world, was the fourth time the German has been knocked out in his first match in a tournament this year. Becker received a first-round bye as the No. 6 seed at Queen's. Becker suffered a back injury before his opening match at the French Open two weeks ago and had to withdraw, although he said his back gave him no problems against Bates. "I am not kidding myself that Boris was at the top of his game. But I still had to take it," said Bates, who had never won a set from Becker in four previous meetings. "It's a dream to me because I have lost to him so many times before. I had nothing to lose in this situation. I just went for shots. I went for my serve."
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