French hopes rest on Noah

Press, 26 October 1982, Page 40

French hopes rest on Noah

NZPA-Reuter Paris Yannick Noah shoulders the hopes of France late next month in a bid to revive one of the great chapters in the country’s sporting history. Noah, the black Camerounborn tennis player who has become the backbone of the French game in recent years, is the man all France is hoping will lead it to its first Davis Cup triumph for 49 years. The son of a Cameroon father and French mother, Noah burst upon the tennis world in 1980 when he reached the final of the Italian Open. Since then he has established himself as one of the top players in the world. But when the Davis Cup i final against the United

States begins in Grenoble on November 26, Noah knows he will be facing probably his stiffest test yet, with the eyes of an expectant nation focused upon him. One man who will be fully aware of the Frenchman’s capabilities during the final will be the American nonplaying captain, Arthur Ashe. Ashe spotted Noah as a 10-year-old playing in the Camerouns while the former Wimbledon champion was touring Africa in 1970. He persuaded the French tennis authorities to take the talented youngster into their coaching system for promising young players. They brought Noah to Paris where a coach, Patrice Hagelauer, worked with him through the 70s and moulded

him into the tough, versatile player with a blistering serve that won nearly $lBO,OOO in prize money last year. Noah led the French quartet of Henri Leconte, Thierry Tnlasne and Gilles Moreton to a glorious semi-final victory over New Zealand, a win which captured the imagination of the French media and the hearts of the people. lite French last won the Davis Cup in 1932 when they beat the United States in Paris. It was the sixth successive win for the quartet of Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet, Rene Lacoste and Jacques Brugnon, who became dubbed “the four musketeers” by the French media. Not surprisingly Noah,

Leconte, Tulasne and Moreton have been hailed as “the new four musketeers,” and French magazines and newspapers have brought the old team and the new together for photographs. But Noah’s athletic build and film star life style has attracted as much publicity off court as his brilliant tennis attracts on it. His Paris apartment is littered with tape cassettes reflecting his wide musical taste, and his penchant for fast motor-cycles and the occasional game of soccer has raised a few eyebrows at the French tennis authority’s headquarters. Noah shook the establishment even more recently when he stepped out for the semi-final with New Zealand sporting a rastafarian hair-

style complete with tightly wound ringlets which had taken his two sisters seven hours to prepare. It was an image which was greeted with a wealth of publicity, but Noah kept his mind very firmly on the task and led the French to an impressive victory. Noah, on his day among the best in the world on clay courts, believes he finds his top form when playing for France. With that in mind the French authorities are preparing a new indoor clay surface for the final. And they will be hoping that he can find that unbeatable form just when it matters most and lead the nation into a new era of tennis supremacy.