If there is one who always says what he thinks, that’s fine. Yannick Noah. Already very expressive when he was a tennis player, the 62-year-old artist has never used the language of wood and it is certainly also for this frankness that the French appreciate him. After a brilliant career in tennis, the champion therefore decided to branch off into music, but he still keeps a watchful eye on the world of sport, despite a hectic life and a very full schedule. Father of 5 children from 3 different women, he travels the whole world to be with his family.
Installed in Cameroon for several years now, Yannick Noah often returns to France where he still has many ties. When he is not in Jamaica with his children or in Brazil for the magnificent wedding of his son Joakim, the interpreter of Africa Saga is in Paris where he is preparing the release of his next album. This weekend he was a guest on the show Europe 1 Sport during which he was able to give his opinion on an event that has caused much controversy in recent weeks, the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Several town halls of major French cities, from Paris to Lille, have indicated that they will boycott the competition by refusing to install giant screens. “We are talking about it today, when it has been necessary to talk about it for 6 years! I remember having talked about it a few years ago, at the beginning. And then of course, it was a bit Don Quixote.. . I was like, ‘I’m not talking about it anymore'”launched the former tennis player on the airwaves of Europe 1 last Saturday.
Now it’s too late
Divided on the question of the boycott of this World Cup in Qatar, Yannick Noah targets the main culprits, according to him: “It’s the politicians and those who decided it was going to happen there who you have to ask.he complains. Now it’s too late. We will watch TV or not, everyone does what they want.
Torn in the face of a complex situation, fueled by numerous reports of corruption and numerous deaths on stadium construction sites in Qatar, Yannick Noah ends up giving his feelings. “It’s true that inside me, there’s a kind of unease. There’s an unease… Even putting myself in front of the TV, there’s an unease, there’s something that doesn’t don’t stick. Having a party in those conditions…”he asks himself, before concluding: “I have memories of extraordinary World Cups. There, it’s the time that passes I imagine, it’s the all-powerful money in the extreme. It bothers me”.