PARIS — Tennis player Coco Gauff will participate LeBron James as flag bearer for the U.S. Olympic team during the opening ceremony on Friday.
Great, the reigning US Open championis set to make her Olympic debut at the Paris Games and will be the first tennis athlete to carry the American flag. She and James were chosen by athletes from Team USA.
“I mean, for me the Olympics are a top priority. I would say equal to the Grand Slams. I wouldn’t rank it higher or lower just because I’ve never played before. This is my first time,” Gauff said earlier this year. “Of course I always want to do well, try to get a medal.”
Gauff and James, the 39-year-old leading scorer in NBA history, both compete in sports outside the traditional Olympic world and receive attention year-round, not just every four years.
Gauff, 20, was part of the U.S. team for the Tokyo Olympics three years ago as a teenager, but had to miss the Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19 just before she was scheduled to fly to Japan.
Now Gauff, who lives in Florida, is a Grand Slam singles and doubles title winner. She won her first major championship in New York in September, beating Aryna Sabalenka in the singles final of the US Open, and then added her first Grand Slam doubles trophy at French Open in June together with Katerina Siniakova from the Czech Republic.
The same Clay courts at Roland Garros used for the French Open will be the site of competition for the Paris Olympics. The bracket draw is on Thursday, with play beginning on Friday.
Gauff is seeded second in singles, which is in line with her current WTA ranking behind No. 1 Iga Swiatek from Poland and is one of the favorites for a medal.
She and her regular doubles partner, Jessica Pegula, are seeded No. 1 in the women’s doubles. It is possible that Gauff could also be seeded in the mixed doubles, but those pairings have not yet been announced.
“I’m not putting too much pressure on it because I really want to enjoy the experience to the fullest,” Gauff said of her Olympic debut. “Hopefully I can have the experience multiple times in my life, (but) I’ll look at it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
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AP Olympic Games: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games