Tennis: forty years ago, the coronation of Yannick Noah at Roland-Garros
Forty years ago, Yannick Noah was the last Frenchman to win a Grand Slam tournament at home. Back on a tricolor exploit that marked Roland-Garros.
Yannick Noah, last Frenchman to win a Grand Slam tournament in 1983. © AFP
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
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Sunday, June 5, 1983 remains an important date in French sport. Since Yannick Noah's victory in the Roland-Garros final against Mats Wilander, no French has won on the side of the Porte d'Auteuil. At the time, Noah was not the favorite for this final, facing the defending champion, winner of 36 of his last 37 meetings. The Swede, who will lose in three sets (6-2, 7-5, 7-6), faces a supercharged Noah.
No solution for Mats Wilander
«
For me, Yannick was a complete stranger in 1983. I started to discover it a little bit in the spring of 1983 when we played against each other in Lisbon in the final (April 1983). Before the Roland Garros final, it was not particularly good news for me that Yannick beat Lendl in the quarters because at the beginning, when I faced Lendl on clay, I was honestly not afraid of him at the time. But Yannick didn't worry me either. The possibility of not winning this final didn't cross my mind at all. Of course, there is always a risk, but I didn't think about it at all. I said to myself 'whatever he does, I'll have an answer, and we play in three winning sets'. And I think that was my biggest mistake. During the first hour of the final I had absolutely no solution and when I started to find them, it was too late," Mats Wilander told Eurosport today.
This year 1983, marked by the marketing of the first compact disc (CD) in France, remains the most beautiful sporting of the future singer. At Roland Garros, Noah is on a cloud. In his first match, he sent home Sweden's Anders Järryd (6–1, 6–0, 6–2). In the second round, Paraguayan Victor Pecci paid the price of the ogre Noah.
«
I knew Yannick had all the assets to make it happen. He was convinced of that too. When he was physically well, he knew he could beat anyone. His physique was key. A lot of my work was focused on it. People never realized how hard he had worked to get to this point," says his coach at the time, Patrice Hagelauer.
Marcel Bernard in 1946
There will also be the victory in the eighth-finals against John Alexander, the one in the quarters against Ivan Lendl (world number 3) and this semi-final between compatriots that eliminates the shooting star Christophe Roger-Vasselin (25 years old, 130th in the world), he who had defeated to everyone's surprise the world number 1 at the time, Jimmy Connors in the quarters! "Before the half against Noah, I thought anything could happen, even if he was at the top of his game. The last time we played was at the National in Nice, in 1981, I lost in five sets leading two sets to nil. When you have just beaten the world number one, if you do not have confidence at that time, you will never trust! If I have any regrets, it's just not having played a full game," Christophe Roger-Vasselin told L'Équipe in 2017.
Finally, Noah became the first French player to win the men's singles title at Roland Garros since Marcel Bernard in 1946. Victory in his pocket, he rushes in tears into his father's arms. The image has toured the world and remains among the most beautiful in French sport.
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