Yannick Noah, 1983

A word about the work

(REF : SPHI002)
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.
It is the last image of a saga that saw him fling Anders Jarryd aside, dispense with Victor Pecci, mistreat Pat Dupré, annihilate John Alexander, crush Ivan Lendl and humiliate Christophe Roger-Vasselin before turning up to face the title holder, Mats Wilander, on that Sunday and dominate him for three sets.

This image is pretty commonplace, we take the same shot every time, but it is important as it is often a cover shot. This one was special because it was him. I was paying attention to everything, my settings, the light in order to get a good, clean image. I was concentrating really hard, but also thoroughly enjoying his expression of beatitude through my viewfinder. I felt he was pouring the contents of the trophy over his face, and this was reinforced by the fact that he was still covered in sweat.

Jean-Denis’s choice

It’s a simple and commonplace shot, it’s true, but it’s him and it’s there… Basically it is the original photo of an original memory.