Escaping jail is my biggest
win, says Becker
Boris Becker said escaping jail for tax evasion is the most significant win of his life, surpassing his three Wimbledon triumphs.
"Had I not won Wimbledon at 17, then I would not have had to fight this battle at 34," said Becker, who was handed a two-year suspended jail term and a heavy fine by a Munich court on Thursday.
"If I had not become so famous and rich, the tax authorities would not have been so interested in me," the fallen German tennis hero was quoted as saying in the Bild daily on Friday.
"Therefore those two fights (Wimbledon and the tax trial) can be compared. The most important win was the one in court. Had I lost there, I would have faced a coupled of very bitter years."
Becker stood accused of having claimed residence in the tax haven of Monaco while actually staying in Munich between 1991 and 1993.
The six-times Grand Slam winner admitted in court that he had made a mistake by dodging tax but then survived the threat of being handed a 3-1/2 years jail sentence, which was demanded by the state prosecutor.
The court eventually gave him a suspended term after taking into account his confession and the fact that he had paid the $3 million he owed in back taxes last week.
"It was the toughest moment of my life," Becker told Bild when asked how he had felt about the prospect of being sent to jail. "I prayed for a positive verdict."
Becker, whose heroics on the tennis court made him one of Germany's biggest post-war celebrities, retired after playing Wimbledon in 1999.
The former world number one, who shot to fame with his first triumph at the All England Club as a teenager in 1985, has endured a string of misfortunes since leaving the professional tennis circuit.
The man once known as "Boom-Boom" for his trademark heavy artillery and never-say-die attitude on a tennis court had to go through a costly divorce, an admission he fathered a child with a Russian model and a string of failed business ventures.
Earlier report
Becker gets 2-year suspended term for tax dodging
