"A Wimbledon start would have made sense with a good performance in Halle, but not with a first-round loss," Becker said. "This way, the pressure of Wimbledon would be too much for me."

Becker fought off five match points before double faulting and losing to German compatriot Hendrik Dreekmann 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (11-9) at the $875,000 grass-court tuneup.

Becker, who has won Wimbledon three times and is one of the tournament's most popular players, is easing into retirement at 30 years old and has played just six tournaments this year.

He has changed his mind several times after announcing last year that his 14th Wimbledon was his last.

Spain's Carlos Moya, in his first match since winning the French Open, defeated Guillaume Raoux of France 6-4, 6-4. But the man he beat in the Paris final, countryman Alex Corretja, was ousted by Nicolas Escude of France 6-2, 7-5.

Also, Australia's Richard Fromberg upset No. 7 seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, and Tommy Haas of Germany beat Belgium's Filip Dewulf 6-3, 6-4.

With hundreds of fans turned away for his match, Becker was far from the form that once made him a No. 1 player and a Wimbledon finalist seven times.

But Becker, now ranked 58th, offered his cheering fans plenty of entertainment. He blew a 4-0 lead in the final-set tiebreaker, then warded off one match point after another before finally losing.

Dreekman was once dismissed by Becker as talented but unmotivated.

"Becker has said Wimbledon is his bedroom, but this was mine," Dreekman said.

Becker's presence has overwhelmed the tournament to the point that defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov appears an afterthought. Kafelnikov, ranked No. 7 and the 1996 French Open, needed three tough sets Monday to beat Andrei Medvedev of Ukraine.

"Great, someone noticed I'm still in the tournament," Kafelnikov said. "I thought nobody was aware of it."