SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER!
 
 
Facebook Social Button Twitter Social Button Follow Us on InstagramYouTube Social Button
NewsScoresRankingsLucky Letcord PodcastShopPro GearPickleballGear Sale

Popular This Week

Sinner: Improvement Inspires More than Quest for No. 1 Sinner: Improvement Inspires More than Quest for No....
It's a Girl! Bencic Announces Birth of Baby Bella It's a Girl! Bencic Announces Birth of Baby Bella
Toni Nadal: Rafa Can Win Roland Garros If This Happens Toni Nadal: Rafa Can Win Roland Garros If This Happe...
Coco Gauff is Time Covergirl in May Coco Gauff is Time Covergirl in May
Badosa: Back Issue May Limit Career to A Few More Years Badosa: Back Issue May Limit Career to A Few More Ye...
Zendaya: Serena's Reaction to Challengers Zendaya: Serena's Reaction to Challengers
Nadal Commits to Laver Cup Nadal Commits to Laver Cup
Net Notes - A Tennis Now Blog

Net Posts

Industry Insider - A Tennis Now Blog

Industry Insider

Second Serve - A Tennis Now Blog

Second Serve

 

Watch: Noah on Fed Cup Return



Yannick Noah planned to sail around the world in 2017.

Then he received a phone call that launched his Fed Cup return.

Watch: Fed Cup Preview

When French Fed Cup captain Amelie Mauresmo announced last fall she was stepping down from her post last fall to prepare for the birth of her second child, French players put out the call to Noah.

“My plan, my life, is not to be around the tennis anymore even though I do it for the guys,” Noah recalls in this video interview with Fed Cup.com. “But my plan is to sail around the world on a boat so I’m not coming back to this. But let me think about it and let me look at the schedule. And the schedule is like perfect.”

Twenty years after he guided France to its first Fed Cup championship, former French Open champion Noah, who also captains the French Davis Cup team, makes his return as Fed Cup captain as France faces host Switzerland on the hard courts of Geneve this weekend.

France's Alize Cornet opens the tie tomorrow against Timea Bacsinszky followed by Kristina Mladenovic, fresh off her first career title in St. Petersburg, against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic.

In 1997, Noah captained a French team led by Mary Pierce and Sandrine Testud that defeated host The Netherlands, 4-1, to win the nation's first Fed Cup in history.

Noah and Pierce have reprised their partnership. The 2000 Roland Garros champion is Noah's assistant captain on the team.

“She thinks in English. I think in French,” Noah said of Pierce. “I’m coming from the French tennis system. But she comes from (Nick) Bollettieri. It’s different. I think together we can give more to the players.”

 

Official dinner @fedcup !! #TeamFranceTennis #Allezlesbleues #newstaff 🇫🇷 🇫🇷

A photo posted by Alizé Cornet (@alizecornet) on



His Fed Cup return comes a week after Noah captained France's Davis Cup team to a 4-1 victory over host Japan in Tokyo.

“Fed Cup, Davis Cup, for me it’s pretty much the same," Noah said. "It’s about the spirit, it’s about teamwork, it’s about being generous, it’s about helping each other.”

Photo credit: Fed Cup

Posted: