Yannick Noah

Yannick Noah born 18 May 1960 is a French former professional tennis player and singer who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005 Noah won the French Open in 1983 and is currently the captain of both Frances Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams During his nearly twodecade career Noah captured 23 singles titles and 16 doubles titles reaching a careerhigh singles ranking of world No 3 in July 1986 and attaining the world No 1 doubles ranking the following month Since his retirement from the game Noah has remained in the public eye as a popular music performer and as the cofounder with his mother of a charity organization for underprivileged children Noah is also the father of former NBA player Joakim Noah Born in Sedan in the north of France in 1960 Yannick Noah is biracial His late father was Cameroonian footballer Zacharie Noah and his mother MarieClaire was French After a sports injury in 1963 Noahs father returned to Africa with his family Yannick was living in Cameroon when he made his debut in tennis and was discovered at age 11 by Arthur Ashe and Charlie Pasarell He soon showed an amazing talent that eventually brought him to the French Tennis Federations training center in Nice in 1971 Noah turned professional in 1977 and won his first toplevel singles title in 1978 in Manila He became Frances most prominent tennis hero in 1983 becoming the first Frenchman in 37 years to win the French Open one of the four Grand Slam singles events He dropped only one set during the twoweeklong tournament and defeated the defending champion Swedens Mats Wilander in straight sets in the final 62 75 76 He remains the last and most recent Frenchman to have won the French Open mens singles title Noah won the French Open mens doubles title in 1984 with compatriot and best friend Henri Leconte He was also the mens doubles runnerup at the 1985 US Open with Leconte and the 1987 French Open with compatriot Guy Forget In August 1986 Noah attained the world no 1 doubles ranking which he would hold for a total of 19 weeks At the end of 1986 Noah received the ATP Sportsmanship Award as voted for by other ATP players He reached the quarterfinal stage or better on 10 occasions at Grand Slam level He notably admitted using marijuana prior to matches in 1981 saying that amphetamines were the real problem in tennis as they were performanceenhancing drugs In 1992 Noah received the Legion of Honour medal Noah was awarded the Philippe Chatrier Award the ITFs highest accolade in 2005 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame that same year He remains Frances highest male ranked player since the introduction of rankings in 1973 Noah played on Frances Davis Cup team for eleven years with an overall winloss record of 3922 2615 in singles and in 137 doubles In 1982 he was part of the French team which reached the Davis Cup final where they were defeated 41 by the United States Source Article Yannick Noah from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30