SEPT 25 - 27, 2026 | LONDON
Just Google ‘Yannick Noah’ and ‘Roland Garros’ and you’ll see it; an indelible photograph of the dreadlocked and tearful Frenchman in full-on rapture, hurdling the net toward his awaiting father Zacharie’s embrace, a blur of Cameroon-flag-striped sweatbands and Le Coq Sportif short-shorts.
It was June 5, 1983, and Noah had just put an end to a 37-year-long drought at his home Slam. (He remains the last of his countrymen to win the men’s singles title on the red clay of Paris, another 43 years having somehow since elapsed.)
“It’s my moment,” reflected Noah this week in London, signaling his epitaph. “The day I die, it’s going to be the image being shown.”
Court Central (today known as Court Philippe-Chatrier) was where he came of age. In more ways than one. It was there a decade earlier underneath the stands, he says, that he experienced his first kiss. It was there that he captured his one and only Grand Slam title, the only one he ever really cared about.
But Noah, now 66, has added some new imagery. Another moment in another venue. On Sunday evening at the storied O2 in London, the second-year captain guided Team Europe to the Laver Cup title, hoisting the molten silver trophy named for Aussie legend Rod Laver, the last man to sweep all four majors in a single season.
“This year, I can’t lie to you, I had a little bit of pressure. This event means a lot,” said Noah after Alexander Zverev put the finishing touches on a 13-5 victory for Team Europe. “I’ve been a Davis Cup captain, but this is a special event. It works. This is why we play, to be able to experience these kinds of moments. I’ll cherish it. I’m going to have a beautiful picture with my guys.”
“It’s a moment that we get to share,” he added. “I didn’t know these guys last year. They probably saw some of the things I did, like, 45 years ago in some magazine, but I didn’t know them. To be able to just sit with them was a very important, strong experience, because I love the game. I love tennis.”
It marked the fourth time Zverev, the longest tenured member of Team Europe, clinched the Laver Cup.
“This is why we play, to be able to experience these kinds of moments. I’ll cherish it. I’m going to have a beautiful picture with my guys.” — Yannick Noah
“I definitely felt a little bit of pressure today,” admitted Zverev, the reigning Roland Garros and US Open titlist. “I’m extremely pleased that Yannick and the rest of the team still had the confidence in me to close it out and to play on the final day, because I lost the last three matches of the Laver Cup before that. I had a little bit more extra pressure, but I think the Laver Cup is a different type of event. The results that happen here sometimes don’t happen on the normal tour. Here, all of a sudden, people come alive and play their best tennis.”
“Winning the Laver Cup with these guys is always special,” attested Zverev’s teammate, the seven-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz. “I just love the feeling of it. I was loving that the feeling of supporting these guys when they were playing from the bench. It’s a really unique and a special format that I just love to be part of it.”
There sat Noah in a celebratory, champagne-soaked press conference at The O2, a New York Knicks cap upon his head and the rest of Team Europe beside him: Zverev, Alcaraz, vice-captain Tim Henman, Jakub Mensik, Casper Ruud, rookie Rafael Jodar and alternate Arthur Fery.
It was an indelible image.
