Coco Gauff will lead the US tennis team at the Paris Olympics after missing Tokyo

Coco Gauff will lead the US tennis team in Paris Olympics three years after missing the Tokyo Games because of COVID-19 infection.

Gauff, 20, ranked No. 2, will be joined by No. 5 Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins and Emma Navarro in the women’s singles, along with Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Chris Eubanks and Marcos Giron in the men’s singles.

Olympic tennis begins on July 27th at Roland Garros, home of the French Open.

The U.S. team features six first-time Olympians, the U.S. Tennis Association said in Thursday’s announcement.

Gauff is the US Open Champion and reached the semifinals at the first two Grand Slams of the year, the Australian Open and the French Open. She was a finalist on clay at Roland Garros in 2022 and will also be a candidate for medals in doubles.

She and Pegula won the French Open this month by his first major doubles title. They won five doubles titles as a duo.

Gauff tested positive for COVID-19 days before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, postponed by the pandemic, in July 2021.

Pegula returned to action last week after a neck injury in April forced her to miss the French Open. She reached the singles quarterfinals there in 2022.

Collins, 30, who said this will be its last season on tour, won two titles this year in Miami and Charleston. The 2022 Australian Open runner-up also reached the Strasbourg final in May before being eliminated in the second round of the French Open, where her best result was the quarter-finals in 2020.

Doubles player Desirae Krawczyk will join Collins at the Paris Games. Collins and Krawczyk won the doubles title last year in Charleston. Krawczyk is a four-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champion.

Navarro, ranked a career-high 17th, reached the fourth round at Roland Garros.

For men, Fritz is the highest-ranked American at 12th, followed by Paul at 13th. Eubanks is 44th and Giron is 53rd.

Paul and Giron competed at the Tokyo Games.

The US is also taking 40-year-old Rajeev Ram to his third Olympics. He will be paired with Austin Krajicek in Paris. Fritz and Paul will also join forces in doubles.

Ram, who has four major doubles titles, won the silver medal in mixed doubles with Venus Williams at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

The USTA said it will announce a mixed doubles team for Paris at a later date.

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