Noah was discovered by Arthur Ashe at a tennis clinic in Yaoundé, Cameroon, West Africa—where his family relocated to in 1963—while playing tennis with a board instead of a racquet. The 11-year-old Noah impressed Ashe, who then reached out to Philippe Chatrier, the head of the French Tennis Federation (FFT). Ashe advocated to get Noah the training and nurturing he needed to become a world-class player. In 1971, Noah was sent to the FFT training center in Nice. He joined the professional tour six years later at the age of 17.

In 1983, Noah defeated defending champion Mats Wilander in straight sets (6-2, 7-5, 7-6) to become the first Frenchman to win Roland-Garros in 37 years. “I had there [Roland-Garros] the best moments of my life more than 30 years ago,” Noah told CNN in 2014. “It’s right here in my heart forever. I have my best moment on tape of my life, so every time I see it, every time I think about it, I am complete.” This was Noah’s only major singles title. The following year, Noah teamed with compatriot Henri Leconte to win another title at Roland-Garros in men’s doubles. The pair defeated Pavel Složil and Tomáš Šmíd 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. In 1985, Noah and Leconte were finalists at the US Open. Noah was a finalist again two years later alongside Guy Forget.

Noah had an engaging, happy-go-lucky presence on court, a wide smile, and exuberance for the game. He was flamboyant, artistic, athletic, graceful, and full of life on court. His 19-year playing career included 476 singles wins, 23 tour championships in singles and 16 in doubles. Noah rose to a world Top 10 status for five straight years—debuting at No. 9 in 1983 and rising to a career-best No. 5 the following year. Noah was a quarterfinalist at the US Open three times (1983, 1985, 1989). In 1990, his last year playing full time on tour, he advanced to the semifinals of the Australian Open. One of his biggest victories came at the 1982 ATP Palm Springs Tournament, where he defeated Ivan Lendl, ending Lendl's 44-match win streak.

True to his French roots, Noah played on the French Davis Cup team for 11 years (1978-1985 and 1988-1990). He captained the Davis Cup team in 1991-1992 and 1995-1998. In 1991, his team won the Davis Cup for the first time in 59 years (since 1932). They defeated a heavily favored U.S. team 3–1 in the final. In 1996, he once again led the French team to a Davis Cup championship, defeating Sweden 3–2 in the final held in Malmö, Sweden. In 1997, Noah captained France's Fed Cup team to its first championship, 4-1 over the Netherlands.

In 2005, Noah was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Outside of tennis, Noah has explored music, and is a popular singer, releasing his first album Black or What in 1991. He also is the father of former NBA player Joakim Noah.