EXCLUSIVE - Davis Cup 1991: the memories (and the emotion) of Yannick Noah

Colin Abgrall 8:00 p.m., November 26, 2021

It is a special anniversary that we are celebrating on Europe 1. That of the 30 years of the Davis Cup victory of the French tennis team. Led by Yannick Noah, Henri Leconte and Guy Forget brought down the United States and its stars to offer the trophy to France, 59 years after the "Musketeers" of René Lacoste and Jean Borotra in particular. On Europe 1, the emblematic captain remembers the preparation, behind the scenes and the apotheosis of victory on the mythical air of Saga Africa in the company of his friends. An adventure which has "bound them for life" according to the former winner of Roland-Garros.

Thirty years ago, you were simply saying that when you won the Davis Cup, everything can stop because to do that, to achieve this feat, it's extraordinary.

Are you correcting or confirming 30 years later?

Everything can stop.

Fortunately, thank God, other things have happened in our lives anyway, but I think we touched happiness and it was an extraordinary moment.

And just thinking about it and remembering it ... What's left?

We took a little white hair, but there is still friendship, something very strong.

And I think that this adventure that we lived thirty years ago, it has linked us for life.

Looking back, is this the second greatest sporting achievement of your career after Roland-Garros (which he won in 1983)?

It's the greatest sporting achievement in the history of sport, of the world, forever, forever (laughs)

You were a young captain since you had just ended your career.

Do you realize that maybe it was a miracle that you pulled off in 1991?

No, no, it's not a miracle. I think that to beat Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, of course, you had to take a certain number of risks, of course calculated. It was Patrice Hagelauer who had this first vision before me. We met and he said to me "Listen Yann, I really think we have to push Henri (Leconte) to recover, to trust each other." And that's what we did. We managed to motivate him. After that, as long as he was healthy, fit, and training, there was no reason it wouldn't work. He had nothing to envy these players on that surface.

What was wonderful about our adventure on D-Day is that, as Coach Perrin said, the stars were aligned. I think we were all in our best shape. Me, as captain, with enthusiasm because I coached my best friends, Guy (Forget) certainly played the best tennis of his career and Henri too. On top of that, very quickly the audience felt it. So there is a great fellowship. We're having an amazing tennis weekend. It was fantastic. It's nice to dive back into it. I tell myself that with the equipment of the time, the rackets of the time, the game is really of a very, very high level. I think we deserved to win.

It is good to have said so, indeed. You also have this faculty, this magic of always giving this supplement of soul to a group, to a human being. That is your great strength too. 

I like to be with my friends.

I was about to retire, I started to make some music, I just missed my friends, and there is nothing more extraordinary than meeting up with friends with a common goal. .

The trust we had in each other was so strong that we really grew very quickly this first year when I was captain.

There was really a connection between us and having a common dream with our best mates and reaching it, I don't see the best.

It's great.

You could say it was a tight-knit team, but I think it was more than that.

It is a tight-knit family.

Doing it with people with whom we have such a bond, it's like we say in Cameroon, it's magic.

A word about Henri Leconte?

He's never changed, he's still the same.

Henri was such a spectacular player.

I think maybe people have forgotten that he was a very great player, that he was a hard worker who has an extraordinary career.

And then there you go, as I told you, there are links.

Whatever happens next in life, we will always have this connection. 

Jean-Claude Perrin (who was a physical trainer), was it really "Rambo"? 

Jean-Claude had this ability to make us push our limits.

By his personality, by his voice, by his experience.

He did not discover sport with us, but he was discovering tennis a little.

I knew Jean-Claude.

What I loved was his enthusiasm.

I'll never forget.

The bad, I forget, but the beautiful things, I will never forget.

A day when I lost at Roland Garros.

I had come home.

I can tell you that when you lose a Roland the next day it's hard.

I've lost a lot of games, but losing a Roland was really something.

Heard on europe1:

Every time I look at these pictures I have tears in my eyes, and it's still nice to cry with happiness

And I remember I got home very, very late. I lived in the country and I heard noises, someone was throwing stones at my window. The coach had come. He had come by scooter to Essonne. He made fifty kilometers to come and wake me up saying "listen, we lost. But now the future begins today and we are going to run". It was really the last thing I wanted to do was get out of my fucking bed and I walked out as one man. I went for a run with the coach. It feels good and he had this ability to bring out the best in ourselves and even beyond, to make us dream with his anecdotes, with his personality. Once again, I know that the coach is my uncle. I love her forever. He knows it.

Did you make the same speech to Guy Forget and Henri Leconte? 

No, of course. It is true that there are completely different sensitivities. They are two beings who are really different, if not opposite. That's what I loved about this job. In any case, it is this job where I was a coach that fascinated me precisely because it was not just a question of having a rule that adapts to everyone. It was trying to adapt to everyone. And it's an exercise that I like the most because it really went beyond tennis coaching. Besides, everyone agrees that I spoke very, very little about the game. But I always said to myself that if my friends were in the best mental condition for the game, they would be very good. I knew that Guy, in the best mood,was able to beat anyone. It was the same with Henry, knowing that we also work with others. We talk a lot about Henry and Guy when we talk about the final. But you still have to get there in the final. And we got there without Henry because we had to win the semi-final. And that was with Arnaud Boetsch. And in the quarterfinals, it was with Fabrice Santoro. So if Fabrice doesn't win his decisive match, we won't talk to each other tonight.was with Fabrice Santoro. So if Fabrice doesn't win his decisive match, we won't talk to each other tonight.was with Fabrice Santoro. So if Fabrice doesn't win his decisive match, we won't talk to each other tonight.

It's a whole team. They should not be forgotten. We are of course talking about the final which marked the spirits and it is understandable. It was exciting and we succeeded as a team. It is a moment that is certainly in my career as a most beautiful athlete. It's an extraordinary moment because at Roland Garros, it was me. There it was all of us. But there, it was 59 years. In the memory of the oldest, we did not know what it was to win, since the last Davis Cup was the Musketeers. We also had this extraordinary moment, it was to have the opportunity to share this moment with Jean Borotra, who entered the locker room. It was such a beautiful moment to see this old gentleman to whom we owe anyway, with the Musketeers,the creation of the Roland-Garros stadium. This old man arrived in the locker room in tears. That was wonderful. In fact, this victory was wonderful because we were able to share it with thousands, millions of people. We were able to make people happy and good. And this luck that we have, as professional athletes, is to be able to have these moments filmed because there are some beautiful moments that we can forget over time. But we have them. Every time I look at these pictures I have tears in my eyes. It's still a pleasure to cry with happiness.And this luck that we have, as professional athletes, is to be able to have these moments filmed because there are some beautiful moments that we can forget over time. But we have them. Every time I look at these pictures I have tears in my eyes. It's still a pleasure to cry with happiness.And this luck that we have, as professional athletes, is to be able to have these moments filmed because there are some beautiful moments that we can forget over time. But we have them. Every time I look at these pictures I have tears in my eyes. It's still a pleasure to cry with happiness. 

The stroke of genius is Henri Leconte. We all forgot today, but he was almost in the 150th place in the world at the time. What is the mental spring that makes us say to ourselves that it is him? 

Because what matters above all is the shape of the moment. I think in all humility that I am the one who knows the most tennis in France. But at that moment, I know very well that it will surprise. First, because the majority of people don't know tennis, and second, because nobody is on the team, nobody. And inside, no one follows the workouts every morning. How many times in our life have we spent a month thinking about only one goal? He only thought of one goal, one, which was to play and win the match point. By eating, sleeping, exercising every day, breathing. Henri, he was almost dead, he almost came to the end of his career. Three months later, I can tell you that he has a strength, a desire.He had to be braked because he wanted to. Imagine that two months before, he was wondering if he was going to play tennis again.

Heard on europe1:

It's extraordinary because we didn't beat the branquignols, we beat Agassi, Sampras

So yes, it was. It was not a stroke of genius. I know very well that if he hadn't won, it would have been for my face. When we arrived in Lyon, the last three or four training sessions, it was just incredible. Because there, all of a sudden, he felt. It smelled of the game. And there, he was extraordinary because I think that even while sleeping, he thinks of tennis, so of this match, this strength, even for me, spectator of that, it was wonderful because he was above it. But it wasn't magic, it wasn't witchcraft. It's just that he gave everything for that moment. I think and I know who has never done it after. It's extraordinary because we didn't beat the branquignols. We beat Agassi, Sampras. It's not nothing.We still beat two of the best players of all time. And for that, you had to be extraordinary. He's a guy who saw death up close. And then, when he got on the court, it was amazing. When he played like that, it was beautiful to see.

And you continued to provide a great atmosphere after the game, in a discotheque, didn't you?

Afterwards, the party is no longer ours. There is one thing I wanted to talk about. The audience was extraordinary, extraordinary. I may have touched on the subject earlier, but it's true that we play for people. And to see this audience which vibrated from the first ball, which was really with us, it was extraordinary. The people who were there had an extraordinary moment, but they gave us an extraordinary moment. We found our audience from the first point and the audience did not let us go until the last point. It was extraordinary to experience. It was very, very strong and that's why we have to encourage our teams. We must encourage the fans of the Blues, whatever the discipline, we must encourage them. We must stop the choices, stop the criticisms. At the end,when we win, we all win together. And yes, there are times when you have to take risks. There are times when it may not be obvious. There are times when you can even make mistakes and sometimes even big balls. But in the end, it's so good when we all win together, whatever the sport.