Yannick Noah captained the French team to its first Davis Cup victory in 59 years, defeating a heavily favoured US team 3–1 in the final. This feat was repeated in 1996, when Noah coached the French team to defeat Sweden 3–2 in the final held in Malmö. In 2017, Noah added a third Davis Cup win for France under his guidance as Captain, defeating Belgium in the final in Lille. In 1997, he also captained France's Fed Cup team to its first ever win of that competition when they defeated the Dutch in the final. Since retiring from playing tennis, Noah developed
Tennis shots was pioneered in the 1970s by Guillermo Vilas and Yannick Noah, both of whom claimed to have invented it; later players to use it include Ilie Năstase, Boris Becker, Gabriela Sabatini (whose version was called the "Sabatwini"), Andre Agassi, and Roger Federer, who helped popularize the shot. Forward-facing between-the-legs shots are also occasionally employed; they are sometimes called "front tweeners". The "Bucharest Backfire" is an over-the-shoulder backward shot, generally used to recover lobs. Tennis writer Bud Collins named it in honor of Romanian player Ilie Năstase, who popularized it. Another seldom used shot is a behind-the-back shot, which, as its