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Alexander Zverev holds up the Laver Cup trophy for a sixth time with Team Europe.<\/p>\nJust Google \u2018Yannick Noah\u2019 and \u2018Roland Garros\u2019 and you\u2019ll see it; an indelible photograph of the dreadlocked and tearful Frenchman in full-on rapture, hurdling the net toward his awaiting father Zacharie\u2019s embrace, a blur of Cameroon-flag-striped sweatbands and Le Coq Sportif short-shorts.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s singles title on the red clay of Paris, another 43 years having somehow since elapsed.)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my moment,\u201d reflected Noah this week in London, signaling his epitaph. \u201cThe day I die, it\u2019s going to be the image being shown.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, I can\u2019t lie to you, I had a little bit of pressure. This event means a lot,\u201d said Noah after Alexander Zverev put the finishing touches on a 13-5 victory for Team Europe. \u201cI\u2019ve 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\u2019ll cherish it. I\u2019m going to have a beautiful picture with my guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a moment that we get to share,\u201d he added. \u201cI didn\u2019t know these guys last year. They probably saw some of the things I did, like, 45 years ago in some magazine, but I didn\u2019t know them. To be able to just sit with them was a very important, strong experience, because I love the game. I love tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n
It marked the fourth time Zverev, the longest tenured member of Team Europe, clinched the Laver Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why we play, to be able to experience these kinds of moments. I\u2019ll cherish it. I\u2019m going to have a beautiful picture with my guys.\u201d \u2014 Yannick Noah<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely felt a little bit of pressure today,\u201d admitted Zverev, the reigning Roland Garros and US Open titlist. \u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019t happen on the normal tour. Here, all of a sudden, people come alive and play their best tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander Zverev holds up the Laver Cup trophy for a sixth time with Team Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning the Laver Cup with these guys is always special,\u201d attested Zverev\u2019s teammate, the seven-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz. \u201cI just love the feeling of it. I was loving that the feeling of supporting these guys when they were playing from the bench. It\u2019s a really unique and a special format that I just love to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
There sat Noah in a celebratory, champagne-soaked press conference at The O2, \u00a0a 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.<\/p>\n
It was an indelible image.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just Google \u2018Yannick Noah\u2019 and \u2018Roland Garros\u2019 and you\u2019ll see it; an indelible photograph of the dreadlocked and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[12082,2073,99,428,94224],"class_list":["post-862993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-yannick-noah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}