The images were difficult to watch for Yannick Noah. Guest of the 13th issue of The secret box with Gilbert Montagné and Amel Bent, the 62-year-old singer and former professional tennis player had the opportunity to reflect on his victory at Roland Garros in 1983. If it was one of the best days of his life, he nevertheless retains a major regret: that of not having thought of celebrating with his mother Marie-Claire.
“She was grey, transparent“, he first remembered at his evocation. And to recognize: “It’s a hard time for me to see these images. Dad had this idea to jump on the court, it was an incredible emotion. I wish all dads to cry with joy in the arms of their son. But in this emotion, with everyone, I forgot mom“.
Yannick Noah nevertheless accepted that the sequence be revealed on set, in which his mother appears in the stands, proud and moved for her son who has just won the biggest tennis tournament. “At the end, she goes: ‘Come, come!’ But I did not see. When I saw these pictures a few weeks later, it broke my heart, because she had been very important“, he confided with great emotion and on the verge of tears. Indeed, it was Marie-Claire Noah who had instilled the spirit of competition in her son. Years later, in 1991, however, he will have managed to catch up in the best possible way, that is to say by winning the Davis Cup but, as captain of the France team. “When I was offered to be captain of the France team, I wanted to win the Davis Cup to be able to give mum that cup because I had the impression that Roland Garros had escaped her a little“, he explained. And this time, the images were more appreciable.
Remember that the mother of Yannick Noah died on October 1, 2012 at the age of 75 following a long illness. his father Zacharie Noah is himself deceased Ie in Yaoundé (capital of cameroon independent since day 1 sickness.