Boris Becker walked out of a German court a free man but a convicted criminal yesterday. The judges found him guilty of tax evasion, but rejected the prosecution's demand that he should be jailed.
"That was my most important victory," the relieved Becker said afterwards. "I am a free man. That is the most important thing."
The judges gave him a stiff punishment, nevertheless: a two-year prison sentence, suspended for three years, a 500,000 euro (£315,000) fine, and the entire cost of his trial.
The former Wimbledon champion had pleaded guilty to evading about 1.7m euros tax by claiming to live in the "offshore" haven of Monte Carlo at a time when his main residence was really in Munich.
Fans packed into the public gallery overhanging the courtroom gasped in horror as the presiding judge, Huberta Knöringer, announced that 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 himself, who again accused the tax inspectors' heavy-handed 10-year inquiry of 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 a demand for a 42-month jail sentence.
Becker had paid the tax authorities 6m euros before the hearing. This included the back-tax he was accused of dodging in the early 1990s, "but he also made payments [on account] for years for which there are still no final demands," the judge said.
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.
He had told the court that during his stays in Munich before reregistering as a resident he had lived in a "spartan" flat at the top of his sister's house. His lawyers insisted that his sole mistake had been "belatedly registering a room in Munich as a residence".