Romain Rouillard (interview by Jacques Vendroux) / Photo credit: AFP 06:00, June 02, 2023

At the end of a formidable epic in the heart of this spring 1983, Yannick Noah presents himself in the final of Roland-Garros against the Swede and defending champion Mats Wilander. But in the night before this match for history, the Frenchman sees victory escape him in a nightmare more real than life.

More than a step to climb. For Yannick Noah as for all the French, the hope of a consecration at Roland-Garros finally becomes concrete on this Saturday, June 4, 1983. On this day, French tennis is only 24 hours away from a resounding feat in which the future captain of the Davis Cup France team will be the major player. A historic encounter that Yannick Noah will play... twice. On Sunday, June 5, where he will triumph against the Swede and defending champion Mats Wilander in an effervescent center court, but also in the night from Saturday to Sunday during a dream that the former champion tells in every detail. And during which this unprecedented final took a completely different turn.

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"I dreamed that I had lost the match," reveals Yannick Noah at the microphone of Jacques Vendroux. A nightmare of which he has forgotten nothing. "There are times when I've ridden the wrong way. Others where I should have attacked. There are times when I should have taken my chance. And finally I lose." An unfortunate conclusion that is quickly accompanied by intense pain. "When you lose at that level, you're not far from saying to yourself 'I could die, it hurts so much'. There are games, when you lose them, you take weeks to sleep, to eat, you can't even think about going to training." Yannick Noah was convinced: it was indeed this scenario that was taking shape.

"When I woke up, my spirit was in the grave"

Because when he wakes up, the champion does not immediately realize that this dark has never happened. And that it is still up to him to write his own on the Parisian clay. "When I woke up, my spirit was in the grave," Noah recalls. That's when his father intervened. "And then, I hear 'toc toc toc', it's dad knocking on the door and saying 'Yann, are you ready? Did you sleep well?' And there, I do not know what happened because for me, it is Monday and I have lost! I know that feeling. And then I realize that I dreamed."

The person concerned then dares to make a comparison. "When you have seen death up close, you see life differently. It's a crazy thing the strength you have when you almost died... It's not the same." This dream will act as an extra dose of adrenaline and motivation for Noah. "When I got out of bed. It was as if, ten minutes later, I had a second chance to go and play the game again." After a final training, a stop at the tobacconist and a lunch "in the middle of the people who all went to Roland", here he is ready to fight. "I was serene, I was good. And what I find amazing is the trunk I had. I was on a mission and I think it's extra," he concludes.