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The son of 1983 French Open tennis winner Yannick Noah, Joakim developed a basketball jones at age 12 when he attended the 1997 McDonald’s Championship. The tournament featured six teams and the tourney’s headliner featured a bald gentleman with a signature Nike shoe. You might have heard of him. Yep, his name is Michael Jordan. “Michael Jordan was playing in that game and it was an inspiring moment for me,” recounted Noah. “I don’t remember any highlights from that game, but I remember Manute Bol was on the court; the tallest man in NBA history. I remember Chris Mullin being on that court.
Noah’s father, former French tennis star Yannick Noah, took him to visit their family’s native Cameroon when he was a child. In recent years, Joakim Noah has built basketball courts in Cameroon and Nigeria. Through the BAL, he is helping build the foundation to develop African basketball players, coaches, referees and venues. “It’s just important being able to work with BAL,” Noah said. “The beauty is just really traveling all around the continent. And South Africa is a special place. It’s a charged place. It’s the land of the Zulus, Zulu warriors. Heavy history, a history of real revolutionaries. What made me join BAL is the leadership, first and foremost. That’s what I was the most excited about. “[BAL president] Amadou [Fall] is somebody that I trust and I believe in. He came to my village in Cameroon early in my career for my first [basketball] camp. He didn’t have to do that. This is way before BAL. This is just supporting my village where my father’s from, my roots, and I remember him speaking to the kids and I was like, ‘OK, this guy’s a real leader with a real vision.’ And for this opportunity to happen as soon as I retired from basketball, I feel more purpose now than I did when I played because of this opportunity.”
Joakim Noah’s pride in being an investor and supporter of the BAL runs as strong as his family ties to Africa. His family, which includes his father, former tennis star Yannick Noah, is from Yaoundé, Cameroon. “I had just retired from basketball. Just finished the [NBA] bubble. I knew that my career was over and right away there was an opportunity to invest in BAL. I jumped on it,” Joakim Noah, 38, recently told Andscape in a phone interview.
Joakim Noah: “This was something that was very important to me on so many levels. I had been going back to Africa once a year since I was a kid on family trips, going to visit my grandfather, my great-grandmother. So, my heritage was there in Cameroon. I was spending a lot of time there. And it was always very tough because every time I wanted to do things on the continent I always felt very alone, and I saw how alone my father was as well, in terms of doing work on the continent, especially when it came to basketball."
Joakim Noah, like his father, is now a winner on the clay at Roland Garros. The former Chicago Bulls center teamed with Gabby Williams of the WNBA's Seattle Storm to beat former Detroit Pistons guard Richard Hamilton and Spanish tennis player David Ferrer in a basketball game on the famed clay of Court Philippe-Chatrier on Wednesday night.
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"I'd never played basketball here, for sure," Noah said after the game, part of the lead-up events for Thursday's game between the Bulls and Pistons in Paris. "I've hit some tennis balls a few times on this court. It's a really special place." Noah's father, Yannick Noah, was the French Open men's champion in 1983. Joakim Noah was born in 1985, won two NCAA titles at Florida and was a two-time All-Star in a career that spanned 13 seasons -- mostly with the Bulls.
Joakim Noah working out for Clippers?
According to his father in an interview today, Yannick Noah, Joakim Noah is on his way to work out for the LA Clippers. This report comes via Super Moscato Show, a French podcast.
The match lasted four drama-filled hours, but it won’t be long before Noah, the former tennis star, is all about basketball and cheering on his son, Joakim, the Knicks’ 6-foot-11 free-agent acquisition from the Bulls. “It means the world to him,” the elder Noah said of Joakim joining the Knicks. “We used to go to the Garden when he was a kid, watching games, watching Patrick [Ewing] play. To know that he’s going to play in the Garden, we feel so blessed. He’s preparing hard. He has a lot of hope and he can’t wait. And I’ll be there.”
At first his dad tries to continue the interview, then just says “sorry,” then forgets the interview all together and gives his son a standing ovation. Dads everywhere will know the feeling: Sorry, ABC, gotta cheer for my son right now. In an interview after the game, Joakim Noah talked about his dad’s presence. “I know that he’s happy. I can’t wait to see him and just celebrate this win with him. You know, I don’t get to see him a lot. My father’s always been there for me, my whole life, and to be able to share these moments with him — I know that he’s a nervous wreck during games. I always tell him to drink a brewski and just chill.”
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