PARIS– tennis star Coco Gauff will join LeBron James as the flag bearer for the U.S. Olympic team at Friday’s opening ceremony.
Gauff, the current US Open champion, will make her Olympic debut in the Paris Games and will be the first tennis athlete to carry the US flag. She and James were chosen by Team USA athletes.
Gauff, 20, was part of the U.S. team for the Tokyo Games three years ago as a teenager, but had to sit out the Olympics because he tested positive for COVID-19 shortly before flying 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, defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open singles final, and then added her first Grand Slam doubles trophy at the French Open in June, alongside Katerina Siniakova of Czech republic.
The same Roland Garros clay courts used in the French Open will be where the Paris Olympics matches will be held. The draw to define the brackets is Thursday, and the game starts on Saturday.
Gauff is ranked second in singles, matching her current WTA ranking, behind #1 Iga Swiatek from Poland and will be among the favorites for the medals.
She and her usual doubles partner, Jessica Pegula, are in first place in women’s doubles. It is possible that Gauff could also be entered in mixed doubles, but those pairings have not yet been announced.
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