Yannick Noah, forever the first!

Yannick Noah is still the last Frenchman to win at Roland Garros in 1983. He is waiting for his successor who should not arrive anytime soon.

A moment apart, forever etched in our memories. Yannick Noah beats this June 5 Mats Wilander in the Roland-Garros final in 1983 (6-2, 7-5, 7-6). On match point, the Swede’s return came out of court. Why is this feat so grandiose? Because it is, to date, the last men’s Grand Slam tournament won by a Frenchman, against defending champion Mats Wilander.

The native of Sedan thus becomes the first French player to win in singles at Roland-Garros since Marcel Bernard in 1946. Once the title has been acquired, Yannick Noah rushes into his father’s arms, offering the whole world an image of the among the finest successes that French sport has ever known!

The words of Virginie Razzano symbolize and summarize in itself the scale of the feat: “ I was born in 1983. My parents reminded me that Yannick won Roland-Garros when I was born. I then really character. I followed his career. He was one of those people who inspired me a lot ”.

Noah in 1983, a feat for Rodolphe Gilbert

Rodolphe Gilbert : « Even with hindsight, his victory at Roland Garros in 1983 remains a resounding achievement. Yannick was one of the best clay court players of the time. He was part of the elite on this surface, of the top 3 in the world, just like the Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander. Yannick did not come out of nowhere. Previously he had won tournaments on clay. He had beaten great specialists like Mats Wilander. In 1983, he was at the pinnacle ”.

Christophe Roger-Vasselin can not say the opposite he who had been rolled by Noah (by scoring only three games) at the stage of the semi-finals:

« Yannick was simply stronger. There was no picture. Tennistically and physically, he was the strongest. We could anyway predict his final victory at Roland Garros because he was one of the favorites. Yannick had the mind to manage a home final with a whole country behind him.

He is someone who does not crack mentally. Tennis skills are important, but if the mind doesn’t follow you put yourself in danger. Yannick was therefore strong in terms of tennis, but also psychologically.

His victory was well deserved. It is true that he has not yet found his successor. But the competition is enormous. It is very complicated these days to win a Grand Slam tournament. If we look closely, few countries have won a title of this dimension.

This underlines the difficulty of the challenge to be met. However, in France we have a good pool of players. It is one of the countries with the most representatives in the top 100 (ten). It’s no wonder we won the Davis Cup ».

Strongest physically and mentally

With Yannick Noah as leader… But let’s go back to 1983. Between total mastery and epic moments, Patrice Hagelauer looks back on this anthological journey from his protégé. A meticulously prepared feat …

« I knew that Yannick had all the assets to make it happen. He was convinced of it too. When he was physically good, he knew he could beat anyone. His physique was the key.

Much of my work was focused on it. People never realized how hard he worked to get there. When he prepared for Roland-Garros in 1983, he jogged for at least an hour every day. Not to mention the sheaths, abdominals, backs …

In short, I believed in it. Even more than him. I knew it would have to be very strong to take him down with what he had physically taken. I didn’t dread the second week at all for him. A lot of players didn’t like playing it. At that time, Yannick was a bulldozer.

It served well, came on the fly, it “kicked” you inside! He had incredible relaxation and he was so hard to pass. Especially with the equipment of the time… At that time he had this feeling of being unbeatable at the net. He looked like a tiger leaping from side to side.

But the most important thing was believing that he could beat anyone. Since the cadets, Lendl did not scare him. He has always had a psychological influence on him. I incessantly rebuked him to produce an attacking game, to go forward, to play long, to vary to prevent his opponents from developing their sector.

On the court, Yannick was a warrior and he more than proved it in 1983. Like a boxer who beat you up. He gave that feeling of never letting you play. And anyway he had won before in Hamburg, before winning at Roland Garros.

So he was playing very well. Then Yannick imposed so much. He was tall, strong and so charismatic. He communicated well and went well with the public. The people were really behind him. One day before his coronation, while he was training Racing with me, an old man of about 90 years old approached him and said: “Mr. Noah, throw your ball a little higher on serve!” “. We know the rest …