Premonition

Serge Philippot

Noah Philippot) Roland Garros Tennis

Un mot sur l'oeuvre

(REF : SPHI001)

1st May 1983. A few hours after this, Yannick Noah would play the final of the Madrid Open. (He won it, beating Henrik Sundström in four sets).
He’d gone out to run a few kilometers on a golf course next to the tennis stadium to warm up. He then sat down to meditate, oblivious to the driving rain and in a world of his own.
That day was only one step in the great plan that would lead him to victory in the French Open.

Le témoignage de Serge Philippot

I had come to Madrid to cover the end of the tournament, having seen Yannick come through all the rounds. I wanted to take some shots of his morning warm-up and came across this scene. I saw him finish jogging, and in the background you can actually see his coach, Patrice Hagelauer, struggling.
I didn’t want to disrupt the moment, and stayed silently behind him. You could tell he was elsewhere, totally absorbed in his own thing.

Le choix de Jean-Denis

I like what this image portrays.
Yannick Noah is both calm and determined. On seeing it, you are reminded of the pact he had made with his coach, Patrice Hagelauer after a pitiful defeat against Manuel Orantes in Monte Carlo a few weeks earlier : « I want you to tell me today that you want to win Roland Garros » « Hagel » said to him. By repeating this sentence, the player had gone into his own world, a space he was totally invested in, and from which he wouldn’t come out. That day, he decided that he would do everything in his power to win the tournament of his dreams.