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
2008 Tennis Masters Cup into the draw, making him the second Frenchman of the eight-men field, alongside Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and marking the first time that two Frenchmen participated in the year-end event since the Masters Grand Prix event of 1986, in which Yannick Noah and Henri Leconte competed. Simon was ranked eighth in the ATP Race entering the Paris Masters thanks to his final in Madrid and his semifinal at the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, where he lost to eventual champion Robin Söderling, but was knocked out of the Top Eight when he lost to Andy Roddick in the third round, and