Coco Gauff will turn into the primary tennis participant in historical past to behave as Crew USA flag bearer when she joins LeBron James on the opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Gauff, 20, is the world No. 2 and defending U.S. Open champion. She may even turn into the youngest American flag bearer in Olympic historical past, overtaking Cindy Nelson, who fulfilled the position on the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Video games in Austria.
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How does Coco Gauff resolve an issue like Iga Swiatek?
Gauff is representing Crew USA within the ladies’s singles, doubles, and blended doubles, becoming a member of world No. 6 Jessica Pegula within the ladies’s doubles and males’s No. 11 Taylor Fritz within the blended occasion.
She had initially been chosen to play within the Tokyo Video games, however a COVID-19 prognosis compelled her to sit down out in 2021.
I simply need to say thanks to my fellow crew usa olympians/athletes for voting and selecting me for this unimaginable honor to be the flag bearer for the opening ceremony ❤️. Thanks a lot. I’m extremely honored. 🥹🇺🇸
— Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) July 24, 2024
The favourite for the singles title is world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who has gained the final three French Open titles at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, the venue for the Olympic tennis occasions. Swiatek has an 11-1 head-to-head file in opposition to Gauff, together with a latest victory within the semifinals of this yr’s French Open in June.
Gauff, who gained the ladies’s doubles title at that match with associate Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, will hope to defeat her through the Video games, the place Siniakova will play with Wimbledon champion and 10-time doubles Grand Slam winner Barbora Krejcikova.
The attracts for the tennis occasions will happen Thursday at 11 a.m. in Paris/5 a.m. ET.
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(Picture: Clive Brunskill / Getty Photos)