Eloïse Bertil 05h00, 02 June 2023
PODCAST - Former tennis player Yannick Noah, the last French winner of Roland-Garros, now lives in Etoudi in Cameroon, the country of his ancestors and where he spent a good part of his youth. Having become chief of the village, Yannick Noah still remembers his early days in rural Africa in the 1960s. It is with great emotion that he tells his childhood memories in the podcast "Yannick Noah, entre vous et moi", produced by Europe 1 Studio.PODCAST
In Etoudi, Yannick Noah built a hotel, the "Village Noah", to welcome tourists from all over the world in the neighborhood of his childhood. But when his family moved to Cameroon in the 1960s, the village was a far cry from what it is today. In the podcast "Yannick Noah, between you and me", he recalls: "We built this house in the village. And for six years, we had no electricity. We lit ourselves with kerosene lamps. We were going to draw water from the river."
For this podcast event, and at the microphone of Jacques Vendroux for Europe 1, Yannick Noah gave us a guided tour of what is now considered a neighborhood in its own right of the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé. He describes: "We are in a kind of oasis of greenery. It was the will of my grandfather and my dad afterwards to keep this place, and it was a very good idea. There is nature. We are almost in the middle of a ghetto, even though we have incredible views of all the different hills of Yaoundé. And in the distance, there is the city as far as the eye can see."
>> READ ALSO – Yannick Noah: at 12 years old, the legendary Arthur Ashe writes him a premonitory message...
Before arriving in Africa, the Noah family lived in what is similar to "a housing estate" in Sedan, in the Ardennes. In Cameroon, the house built by his parents, although rudimentary, offered little Yannick Noah the luxury of having a space of his own. "Here, my sisters had a room for two, and I was lucky to have my room at the end of the house. Now, this room is a school class. But at the time, I remember I had torn pictures of Tennis de France all around my bed."
For the 40th anniversary of Yannick Noah's victory at Roland-Garros, Europe 1, official radio of the tournament, went to Cameroon to meet the legend of French tennis. He agreed to confide as never before about his childhood dreams, his memories of champion and his new life in Africa during an exceptional interview at the microphone of Jacques Vendroux.
Tags: Roland-Garros - tennis - sports studies - Nice
Find "Yannick Noah, between you and me" on : http://www.europe1.fr/emissions/podcast-yannick-noah
" />
It is in this same village that Yannick Noah became passionate about tennis. In "Yannick Noah, between you and me", the Roland-Garros champion confides again: "I played tennis, I made the wall. Even in my room, I was making volleys. The only problem is that it cost me a few beatings..." He explains: "Here the earth is red. And when you have a ball with red earth on white walls, it leaves traces, and that didn't really please my parents." But already at the time, Yannick Noah is a strong head, and he can not resist the urge to play tennis. With humor, he says: "I waited a little while after my first rouste and the second. But it was stronger than me!"
>> READ ALSO – The secret passion of Yannick Noah for the Ardennes, "paradise"...
To listen in full to Yannick Noah's intimate and rare account of the highlights of his life, find the podcast "Yannick Noah, entre vous et moi" on your favorite listening platform.
Want to listen to the episodes of this podcast?
Find them on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer, Amazon Music or on your favorite listening platform.