Yannick Noah and as the co-founder, with his mother, of a charity organization for underprivileged children. Noah is also the father of Joakim Noah of the NBA Memphis Grizzlies Born in the north of France in 1960, Yannick Noah is the son of a Cameroonian footballer, Zacharie Noah, and his French wife Marie-Claire. After a sports injury in 1963, Noah's father returned to Africa with his family. He was living in Cameroon when he made his debut in tennis and was discovered at age 11 by Arthur Ashe and Charlie Pasarell. He soon showed an amazing talent that eventually brought him to
Patrice Beust at the 1976 French Open with Gail Benedetti and at the 1979 French Open with Betty Stöve. As a singles player he made the third rounds of the 1963 French Championships and the 1966 Wimbledon Championships. One of the early coaches of Yannick Noah, Beust headed the National Tennis Etudes, which was opened in Nice in 1970. He has worked for many years as a coach for the Fédération Française de Tennis and in 2015 was appointed Director of the international tennis tournament held in Pléneuf-Val-André. He is an active player on the ITF senior circuit. Patrice Beust Patrice Beust