French tennis star Yannick Noah denied that...

French tennis star Yannick Noah denied that he struck a linesman during the France-Paraguay Davis Cup match last weekend at Asuncion, Paraguay. Noah said: “We had a lot of problems with the umpires and with the crowds during the whole tie...One of the linesmen was making a noise every time Henri was trying to serve--every time. We went to talk to him, and that was it...This guy was too much. If he was some guy from the crowd, we wouldn’t bother, but he was a linesman. He’s a player. Two years ago, when we played Paraguay (in Davis Cup), he was a player.”

Noah also denied throwing his racket at the official. “At the end of the match, some of the guys (spectators) jumped on the team, and one of the members of the French press was knocked out. We had to send him to a hospital. It was scary, When we left the stadium, we had police following us all over.”