By Erik Kirschbaum
Berlin - Boris Becker was scared he would be sent to jail for his tax evasion conviction but said on Thursday that he felt he was given a fresh start to life when a judge instead handed down a two-year suspended sentence.
The three times Wimbledon champion said he was poorer now than a few years ago, but could still afford food even after paying a multi-million dollar tax bill and a further tax evasion penalty.
"When the state prosecutor demanded three and a half years in jail, I felt sick to my stomach," Becker said in his first extensive interview after a Munich state court gave him a two-year suspended sentence and a fine of about $500 000 (about R5-million) earlier on Thursday.
He had already paid $3m for tax he evaded between 1991 and 1993 when he claimed to be living in Monaco, a tax haven, while staying on occasion in a flat in Munich.
"I had gone through the worst-case scenarios before but the jail demand still floored me," added Becker, who became visibly pale after state prosecutor Matthias Musiol demanded the prison term in his closing arguments on Wednesday.
"I thought it was all over. I thought they would take me away in handcuffs. I felt like just a small number at that moment.
"One person can decide your fate. I don't ever want to be in a situation like that again. It wasn't funny. It was dead serious. It was totally brutal."
Becker's lawyers countered that it would be pointless to send their client to jail alongside rapists and other criminals.
Becker said in the 45-minute television interview he had felt intense hatred of the prosecutor for that, emotions he could barely conceal while staring at Musiol in court.
The 34-year-old said he later realised it was his job to try to put people in jail.
FREE MAN
"I just never dreamed it would ever happen to me," said Becker, who has been one of the country's most popular celebrities for the last 17 years following the first of his three Wimbledon victories in 1985 and six grand slam titles.
"I'm a free man now and I'm going to work on getting good fortune rolling my way again," said Becker, who nevertheless will now have a criminal record and is obligated to regularly report his whereabouts to police for the next three years.
"The sword hanging over my head is gone now," he said.
Becker brushed off fears that the tax payments, the fines, court costs, a costly divorce settlement and child support payments to the mother of an illegitimate daughter living in London would leave him a poor man.
"I've got a few marks (dollars) less than I had a few years ago, but I'm doing fine," he said.
"I can still afford to buy a meal this week. There are four million people in Germany without a job. They're a lot worse off than I am."
Becker said he had made a mistake but that he was still baffled that the prosecution had put one investigator solely on his case for the last six years.
"I unfortunately never met this man. I don't know what his problem with me was. I know he was just doing his job."
Despite his brush with prison, Becker said he still loved Germany and would not want to live anywhere else, even though he said he had been approached about changing his citizenship to the United States or Britain.
"I love this country," he said. "I came back to Germany because I love it here. I would never have had these problems if I had stayed in Monte Carlo or moved to Switzerland.
"I feel I'm a goodwill ambassador for Germany. I defend my country around the world. Then I get hit so hard here. It is brutal."
Becker said he was still upset by prosecution raids on his house and office dating back to 1996.
"They pursued me like a major criminal. They searched everything, even rummaging through my wife's underpants."