Yannick Noah explains where men’s tennis has got worse since his era

Yannick Noah is captaining seven current ATP players at the Laver Cup this year.

Noah won Roland Garros in 1983, and is the last French man to win any Grand Slam singles title.

The 66-year-old retired from professional tennis 30 years ago, but Noah is still involved within the sport and is now the captain of Team Europe at the Laver Cup, a role he took over from Stefan Edberg this year.

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Ahead of his second year in the captaincy role, Noah admitted that he thinks men's tennis has weakened in one area in particular since he was playing.

Yannick Noah suggests the top 10 in men's tennis is now weaker

Noah appeared in the latest edition of the 'Off Court with Greg Rusedski' podcast, where he was asked about the current landscape within men's tennis.

He initially full of praise for the current players and highlighted how the depth on the ATP Tour has improved. However, Noah then stated his belief that the level of the players ranked between five and 15 is weaker than during his era.

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"Right now the level is so unbelievable," said Noah. "I was doing a concert last week for the final of a tournament, Challenger. You know, these kids were like 300. They play so well. They are so good. In my time 300 at the ATP, you know had no chance against me even if I was drunk. You had no chance.

"But nowadays, you know you saw the Davis Cup where this kid [Liam Draxl] is like 200 and he beat [Arthur] Rinderknech, who is 30. All these kids from 100 to 300, they are so good.

"Now, if you talk to me about the first 20 it's different. I don't want to sound like the old man who says, 'Oh back in my days,' I don't like that. I don't like that part. But I thought the top 10 were like stronger, better I think.

"I'm not saying like [Bjorn] Borg, I'm not talking about the top three, four guys, different rackets, different ball, different everything, but I'm talking about from five to 15. Then I think 10 years ago it was much tighter."

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How did the ATP rankings look when Yannick Noah was last in the top 10?

Noah officially retired from professional tennis in 1996, but he was last a top 10 player in February 1990.

This was when Ivan Lendl, who had already won eight Grand Slam titles, was world number one, followed by the likes of Boris Becker and Edberg, with John McEnroe and Mats Wilander also in the picture, as well as a young Andre Agassi, who is Noah's opposing captain at the Laver Cup for Team World.

At the time of Noah's last appearance in the top 10, there was a collective of 31 Grand Slam titles, which would become 44 after Becker won two more, Edberg collected another three and Agassi won all eight of his majors.

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When you put this in comparison to the current top 10, which is led by Jannik Sinner, there are a total of just 15 Grand Slam titles, less than half that there was back in February 1990.

While Noah's comments may have been well intended, he does appear to have made a subtle dig at three of his Team Europe players, Flavio Cobolli, Rafael Jodar and Jakub Mensik, all of whom are ranked within that five to 15 region.

Noah will be hoping that they can all produce the goods for his team as Team Europe look to win the Laver Cup for just the second time in five years.

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