YESTERDAY's verdict in Peter Graf's trial for tax fraud marks the end of one of Germany's biggest media events since the Second World War. From the moment Graf was arrested in August 1995, a swarm of reporters, photographers and cameramen has dogged his every step, even recruiting fellow inmates to inform on his progress in prison.
It was clear from the beginning that the German press was determined to absolve Steffi Graf from any complicity in her father's misdemeanours. She was consistently characterised as a simple, hard working woman who had foolishly allowed her feckless father to take care of her financial affairs.
Steffi has, along with Boris Becker, an almost totemic place in the German popular imagination, inspiring one leading choreographer to devise a stage show portraying the pair as a latter day Hansel and Gretel. The unpredictability of Becker's career has made for a more dramatic narrative over the years and his tendency to speak openly about his inner most feelings has lent a soap opera quality to his public life.
But Steffi's dogged determination and consistent success appeals to many Germans' yearning for stability, while her unassuming personality and disdain for public display has ensured a sympathetic press throughout her career.
If the German media has celebrated Steffi as a national heroine, it cast her father in the villain's role long before he came under investigation by the tax authorities. A former second hand car salesman, he hit the headlines in 1992 when he paid DM800,000 to a blackmailer who threatened to reveal details of Grafs affair with a nude model.
Throughout the latest case, popular newspapers such as the mass circulation daily Bild praised Steffi's public loyalty to her father, but reported that the tennis star had for many years unsuccessfully attempted to create greater distance between them. Steffi won widespread public admiration in Germany' for her spectacular run of success on the tennis court following her father's arrest, defying predictions that the affair would prompt her to abandon her sporting career altogether. This succession of victories ended last week when the German star was unexpectedly eliminated from the Australian Open tournament in a preliminary round.
The media interest in the Graf case extended far beyond the popular press, making the cover of the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, which produced regular, lengthy reports on its progress. Even the heavyweight intellectual weekly Die Zeit and the austere conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine kept their readers informed of every twist and turn of the case.
Peter Grafs lawyers consistently claimed that the German tax authorities were fully informed about their client's complicated tax arrangements long before they took action, but failed to warn him that he was breaking the rules. One reason tax officials may have been reluctant to rock the boat is that Steffi is one of very few German sports stars who still lives in Germany.
Boris Becker has been domiciled in Monte Carlo for much of his career, while motor racing star Michael Schumacher and soccer hero Franz Beckenbauer have both moved to tax friendly Austria. Becker is currently under investigation by Bavarian tax officials who suspect that he may have returned to Germany earlier than he claims, making him liable for an extra year's income tax.
In the Grafs' home town of Bruehl, in the Rhineland Palatinate, public sympathy is firmly behind the local heroine, not least because Steffi has always been prompt in paying her share of local taxes. When The Irish Times visited Bruehl at the beginning of the tax scandal, the mayor proudly listed the town's new amenities, including a public swimming pool and sports centre, which had been financed entirely out of Steffi's taxes.
Local sympathy may also have been behind the special treatment German newspapers claim that Graf received during his stay in prison. Prison officers were alleged to have smuggled gourmet meals, newspapers and magazines into his cell and to have absolved him from following strict prison discipline.
Since his release on bail last year, Graf has kept a low profile, faithfully reporting to the court every week and avoiding any communication with the media.
As for Steffi, one casualty of the scandal has been the lucrative sponsorship deals that accounted for a large part of her disputed earnings. Just before her father was arrested, she was about to launch her own brand of casual clothes at a fashion show in Berlin. One likely result of yesterday's verdict is that it will persuade Germany's top tennis star to concentrate on what she does best - playing tennis.
