Yannick and Zacharie Noah, 1983

A word about the work

( REF : SPHI004)
Every French person who was around at the time can remember what they were doing
and where they were on that afternoon of June 5th 1983. There are moments like that,
whether you like sport or not, when you can’t not be aware of what is happening, when you
are quite simply swept along by it all. There are days like that where the tv, the radio, the
noise from the neighbours, or simply other people, all lead you back to this event and you get sucked in.
Yannick Noah, winner of the French Open, spots his father Zacharie who has come down onto Centre Court.

For the end of the set, and maybe the match, I was at the bottom of the steps leading up to the players’ box, not far from the Noah family. I don’t know whether it was this young boy bursting onto the court (between the father and son) that started the court invasion.
But I do know that a tenth of a second later, hidden by the crowd that had followed him, I couldn’t do a thing.

Jean-Denis’s choice

After a victory like that, there are some images that remain, in particular this one by Serge Philippot. The one everyone has seen but no-one gets bored of. Overwhelming and communicative joy, Zacharie, his father leaping onto Centre Court, their moving embrace to a backdrop of court invasion.
You can’t tell whether Yannick is laughing or crying. He is way, way up on cloud 9.
You look at this photo and just let emotions well up, that feeling again of having shared this mad happiness.
Less suffocating than Proust’s madeleine, but with the same guaranteed effect.