TENNIS: Boris Becker avoided a prison term yesterday after a Munich court found him guilty of tax evasion and imposed a two-year suspended sentence.

Becker was ordered to pay €500,000 in fines on top of the € 3 million in back taxes and interest he has already handed over to tax authorities.

"I am happy and relieved that this chapter is finally over. I am a free man, that is the most important thing," said Becker in a statement accepting the judgment.

The three-time Wimbledon champion, sporting newly-dyed blonde hair, smiled and shook his lawyer's hand after the verdict was read out before vanishing from the court room. Fans of the tennis star applauded from the public gallery.

In her verdict, Huberta Knöringer, the presiding judge, said Becker "knowingly concealed" information from the tax authorities to evade tax. However, she noted the evasion took place a decade ago when Becker was "young and inexperienced".

German authorities brought the case after discovering that Becker lived in an apartment in Munich for months at a time between 1991 and 1993 when he claimed to be living in tax exile in Monaco. They claimed Becker had defrauded the tax authorities out of €1.74 million.

Becker admitted the tax dodge before the trial, but had told the court on Wednesday that he had been subjected to a "brutal investigation" that had robbed him of his confidence on the tennis court and had forced him to retire in 1999.

"I stayed in a Spartan flat in Munich between the autumn of 1991 and 1993 that had just a bed and a couch but didn't even have a refrigerator," he said. "I was permanently on the road. The world 'home' didn't really exist for me."

He said he "barely understood" German tax law but admitted ignoring advisers at the time who told him that having an apartment in Germany could cause difficulties later.

Matthias Musiol, the German state prosecutor, called for Becker to be put behind bars for three years and six months. He pointed out that Becker only admitted his guilt and paid the tax authorities shortly before the trail started, after a six-year investigation.

He said yesterday he would push for a review of the sentence, saying it was far below what his office had requested.

Becker's lawyer said he was "absolutely satisfied" with the outcome.

Fans packed into the public gallery overhanging the courtroom had gasped in horror as Knöringer, announced she was sentencing Germany's best-loved sporting idol to two years.

But when she added the word "suspended", it brought a thunderous burst of cheering and applause.

Judge Knöringer, a motherly figure with silvery grey hair, reminded Becker that the verdict meant he would go straight to jail if he committed any offence in the next three years. Then, wagging a finger at him as she looked at him over the top of her spectacles, she added: "And I don't want to hear any more from you about tax."

A laugh went up, but the joke was lost on Becker, who again accused the tax inspectors' heavy-handed 10-year inquiry for ruining his career as a tennis player.

"Because of this tax business, I have not been able to sleep easily since the first house search (in 1996)," he said. "It is notable that I was unable to win a tournament thereafter."

Legal experts said that his conviction could inhibit his business activities.

An official guarantee of trustworthiness is required to run certain types of companies in Germany, and the authorities are reluctant to issue such a document to anyone with a criminal record.

In her ruling, the judge said the court was convinced that Becker had been aware of the ruse that eventually led to his being put in the dock. But several factors persuaded the court to reject the demand for a 42-month jail sentence.

Becker had already been punished to some extent by the lengthy and intrusive investigation, she added.

"Nor should one forget that the defendant has lived back in Germany since 1994 . . . not in a neighbouring country to avoid paying taxes, like many others," - a side-swipe at Michael Schumacher and fellow tax exiles such as Michael Stich and Franz Beckenbauer.

By pleading guilty Becker had saved the court a long and complicated trial, she added.

That did not stop Becker's defence lawyers issuing a statement immediately after the verdict, attempting to minimise his guilt, insisting his sole mistake had been "belatedly registering a room in Munich as a residence".