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
1981 Grand Prix (tennis) Jimmy Connors (USA) 4. José Luis Clerc (Arg) 5. Guillermo Vilas (Arg) 6. Björn Borg (Sue) 7. Roscoe Tanner (USA) 8. Eliot Teltscher (USA) 9. Vitas Gerulaitis (USA) 10. Yannick Noah (Fra) The list of winners and number of singles titles won, alphabetically by last name: The following players won their first title in 1981: 1981 Grand Prix (tennis) The 1981 Volvo Grand Prix was the only men's professional tennis circuit held that year. It consisted of the four Grand Slam tournaments and the Grand Prix tournaments. The World Championship Tennis (WCT) Tour was incorporated into the Grand Prix circuit.