After eight months in prison, former tennis player Boris Becker, a six-time Grand Slam champion, was released on Thursday, the British government announced, Reuters and AFP reported. The former ATP leader will be expelled from Great Britain. The white former sports star was found guilty of concealing assets and loans worth £2.5 million to avoid paying debts.

In April, 55-year-old Boris Becker, who had lived in London since 2012, was sentenced by a London court to two years and six months in prison in a personal bankruptcy case.

“Any foreign national convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison is considered deportable at the earliest opportunity,” the Home Office said in a statement, declining to comment on Becker’s case.

His mother, Elvira Becker, 87, said the homecoming of “Boom Boom Becker” was “the best Christmas present”, The Sun tabloid reported on Tuesday, citing AFP.

According to the British news agency PA, Boris Becker was released on Thursday morning from Huntercombe prison, located about 60 kilometers from London, because he had the right to be deported as a foreigner sentenced to more than 12 months in prison, writes AFP.

The former champion will return to Germany on a private plane chartered by a television station that would pay a generous sum to tell his story, British media reported, as quoted by France Presse.

At the time of bankruptcy in 2017, after a series of bad deals, the former tennis player’s debts were estimated at 50 million pounds, equivalent to 59 million euros.

Becker was previously convicted of tax evasion in Germany in 2002, for which he received a suspended sentence.

The former tennis player won his first Wimbledon final in 1985 at the age of 17, becoming the youngest and first unseeded player to win the men’s singles title. He won two more titles at Wimbledon.