Yannick Noah

Born in the North of France in 1960, Yannick Noah is the son of a Cameroonian soccer player, Zacharie Noah, and his French wife Marie-Claire. After a sports injury in 1963, Noah's father returned to Africa with his family. There Yannick made his debut in tennis and soon showed an amazing talent that eventually brought him to the French Tennis Federation's training center in Nice in 1971, after Black-American tennis legend Arthur Ashe discovered him while he was playing a tournament in Africa. Six years later Yannick Noah won his first victory in the Wimbledon junior category and became professional the next year. On March 5, 1983, he created history by beating Swedish Mats Wilander in the final of the French Open, becoming the first French player to do so since 1946. He won the French Open again in 1984 in doubles with Henri Leconte. In 1986, he ranked third in the ATP international classification and took the lead in doubles for 19 weeks (in single, he stayed in the top 10 during 6 consecutive years from 1982 to 1987). During his career, he won 23 titles in single and 16 in doubles, he had a record of 39 victories for 22 lost matches in Davis Cup and reached the final once with the French team. After having retired in the early 90s, he started to be a singer (which was already one of his favourite hobbies before) and also became the captain of the French team for the Davis Cup in 1991, when France beat the USA 3/1 in the final in Lyon, finally holding the cup for the first time since the last victory of the famous 4 Mousquetaires in 1932. After the winning point (Forget against Sampras), Yannick danced with the team around the court by singing his first single Saga Africa (that eventually featured his first album, Urban Tribu in 1993). Captain again in 1992, 95, 96 and 97, he helped the team to come back to the Mondial Group in 1995 (France was in the 'second division' after 1994) before leading it to another victory in Malmö (Sweden), in 1996. The same year he also trained the French women's team, allowing them to claim their first victory in the Fed Cup in 1997. Yannick Noah is also very active in charity work, having created 'les Enfants de la Terre' in 1988 with his mother and also 'Fête le Mur', a tennis association for underprivileged children. In collaboration with Jean-Jacques Goldman, Yannick Noah released a new album in 2000, called simply 'Yannick Noah'.