Paralympic Games: Yannick Noah named captain of the France wheelchair tennis team

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP 19:40 p.m., December 14, 2023

After guiding France to success in Davis Cup and Fed Cup, Yannick Noah was offered a new challenge on Thursday, being named captain of the men's wheelchair tennis team for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. "Our France Paralympic team will be under the control of a captain called Yannick Noah. He will be captain of the France men's team for the Olympic Games. He will come to train our teams. Yannick will take on this challenge, because he is a man of challenge, he has shown it, he is a leader of men," announced Gilles Moretton, president of the FFT, during a press conference at Roland-Garros.

"A man of challenge", now 63 years old, who has managed to meet them one by one during his brilliant career in tennis. First of all, when he was a player, with his unforgettable crown at Roland-Garros in 1983, which remains the last Grand Slam victory by a French player.

Mental trainer... at PSG

Then when he took on the role of captain of the France men's and women's teams, transmitting a rage to win that has worked miracles several times, to the point of inheriting an image of a wizard of winning. One only had to look at the revival of Henri Leconte and the trance of Guy Forget in 1991 against the Americans Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, to have the proof of this unique know-how that led to the Davis Cup title, a trophy that had not been lifted by the French for 59 years.

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Noah did it again in 1996, with another generation, that of Cédric Pioline, Guillaume Raoux, Arnaud Boetsch, but also with Guy Forget, to win the event again in Sweden. Between two hits, including "Saga Africa" which also made him famous on the French music scene, he conveys an unmistakable image of a winner, which fascinates even in football. PSG called on his services as a mental trainer that same year and... wins the European Cup Winners' Cup.

The 2017 Coronation

The following year, Noah took the reins of the France women's team which he led to triumph in the Fed Cup (now Billie Jean King Cup), the first won by France, with, in its ranks, Mary Pierce, Sandrine Testud and Nathalie Tauziat among others. After a hiatus of several years, he returned to the role of captain that stuck to him, at the helm of the men's and women's teams, with a third Davis Cup won in 2017, beating Belgium in the final. The new challenge he is about to take on could add a few gold letters (Paralympic) to his prestigious list of achievements at the Games, which will take place from August 28 to September 8.