Yannick Noah

Yannick Noah (born 18 May 1960) is a French former professional tennis player and singer.

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, Marie-Claire, is French.

After a sports injury in 1963, Noah's father returned to Africa with his family.

He 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 Federation's training center in Nice in 1971.

He remains France's highest male ranked player since the introduction of rankings in 1973.

Noah played on France's Davis Cup team for eleven years, with an overall win–loss record of 39–22 (26–15 in singles, and in 13–7 doubles).

Noah turned professional in 1977 and won his first top-level singles title in 1978 in Manila.

He notably admitted using marijuana prior to matches in 1981, saying that amphetamines were the real problem in tennis as they were performance-enhancing drugs.

In 1982, he was part of the French team which reached the Davis Cup final, where they were defeated 4–1 by the United States.

Noah won the French Open in 1983, and is currently the captain of both France's Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams.

He became France's 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 two-week-long tournament, and defeated the defending champion, Sweden's Mats Wilander, in straight sets in the final, 6–2, 7–5, 7–6.

He remains the last and most recent Frenchman to have won the French Open men's singles title.

Noah won the French Open men's doubles title in 1984 (with compatriot and best friend Henri Leconte).

He was also the men's doubles runner-up at the 1985 U.S. Open (with Leconte), and the 1987 French Open (with compatriot Guy Forget).

During his nearly two-decade career, Noah captured 23 singles titles and 16 doubles titles, reaching a career-high 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 co-founder, with his mother, of a charity organization for underprivileged children.

Noah is also the father of former NBA player Joakim Noah.

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 quarter-final stage or better on 10 occasions at Grand Slam level.

In 1991, Noah captained the French team to its first Davis Cup victory in 59 years, defeating a heavily favoured US team 3–1 in the final.

He began his music career in 1991 with the album Black & What, featuring the popular track "Saga Africa", which he made the stadium sing with his players after the famous Davis Cup final win.

In 1992, Noah received the Legion of Honour medal.

In 1993, he released the album Urban Tribu with the single "Get on Back", followed by the album Zam Zam in 1998.

This feat was repeated in 1996, when Noah coached the French team to defeat Sweden 3–2 in the final held in Malmö.

In 1997, he also captained France's Fed Cup team to its first ever win of that competition when they defeated the Dutch in the final.

After retiring from playing tennis, Noah developed a career as a popular singer, performing throughout Europe.

With the encouragement of his manager Jean-Pierre Weiller, his musical career got a great boost in 2000 with his self-titled 4th album Yannick Noah, written by Erick Benzi and Robert Goldman.

The single "Simon Papa Tara" was written by Robert Goldman.

The album also contained songs by Bob Marley and the group Téléphone.

Noah was awarded the Philippe Chatrier Award (the ITF's highest accolade) in 2005 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame that same year.

In 2005, Noah performed at Bob Geldof's Live 8 concert, a fundraiser aimed at alleviating poverty in Africa.

On 21 July 2009, Noah made his U.S. live debut, headlining a concert in front of a packed house at the popular free outdoor performing arts festival in New York City, Central Park SummerStage.

The performance was part of France's global music celebration Fête de la Musique.

In 2010, Yannick made a comeback with the release of Frontières, his eighth album, containing the single "Angela", a tribute to Angela Davis.

It also contained a duet with Aṣa in "Hello".

In 2017, Noah added a third Davis Cup win for France under his guidance as captain, defeating Belgium in the final in Lille.