40 years since he lifted the cup of the Musketeers. One of the most prestigious trophies that many tennis players aspire to win. Indeed, Yannick Noah won Roland-Garros on June 5, 1983 against Mats Wilander, and his victory is still anchored in the minds of all tennis fans. But after his sports career, the now 63-year-old athlete embarked on another of his passions: music.
A passion that has only increased its notoriety… not always well managed by the main interested party. Indeed, interviewed by Jacques Vendroux and European 1 for the 40th anniversary of his victory at Roland-Garros, Yannick Noah delivered a ten-episode podcast in which he talks about his whole life. From her mother and her important role that she had until the end of her life, tennis, song, and her appearances on television. An interview in which he opens up without disguise and even makes astonishing revelations.
See also: Yannick Noah drunk during the Monte-Carlo tournament: The former sportsman looks back on an epic event in his career!
A notoriety too heavy to bear for Yannick Noah
“There were times when notoriety weighed on me, notoriety bothered me, so much so that I wanted to go into exile and settle in the United States, because I couldn’t deal with this constant stuff […] I didn’t find myself, I needed something more human”he confides in episode 4 of the podcast entitled “Mom, my guardian angel” before continuing: “And the fact of working for Les enfants de la Terre (association created by the mother of Yannick Noah and this one, to help children in difficult situations: editor’s note), with my mother moreover, gave meaning to all that”.
In fact, the one who would have recently seen his daughter placed in police custody accepted “to go and do certain shows” who him “seemed to be shows of… so empty”. “We pretended to laugh, we asked stupid questions, where I sometimes felt like I was on the verge of prostitution”remembers the artist before evoking the “Star Academy”: “One day, something happened, and it was really painful. I did Star Academy”.
The “Star Academy”, such a bad memory?
A difficult moment for him, especially since he really “felt like a… whore”. “To be there to sell a product. I sing, it’s therapy for me to sing and of course I want it to work, but it was a mandatory step because it was a wonderful promotion of my project But I wasn’t well…”specifies the one who has never hesitated to rant, especially against the Enfoirés, thereafter.
The next day, Yannick Noah had to go to the Necker hospital to meet sick children. When he arrived, he discovered “overexcited kids” because they had it “seen at the STAR ACADEMY!”. “Do you realize? And suddenly the Star Academy that I redid after, I had a reason to do it, it gave meaning to all that”he admitted.
Finally no regrets?
“We talk about the Children of the Earth, we talk about Fête le mur (another Yannick Noah association for children and young people from priority neighborhoods in the city: editor’s note) afterwards, about my humanitarian or social commitment… it comes from that”, he explains. It happened to Yannick Noah to “doing things that may seem light or playful or superficial to death”but the fact that there are “kids looking behind” is what matters most to him and allows him to regret nothing.
RF