PARIS (AP) — Tennis star Coco Gauff will participate Le Bron James as the flag bearer for the U.S. Olympic team during Friday’s opening ceremony.
Gauff, the reigning US Open champion, will make her Olympic debut the Paris Games and will be the first tennis athlete to carry the American flag. She and James were chosen by Team USA athletes.
Twenty-year-old Gauff was part of the U.S. team for the Tokyo Games as a teenager three years ago, but had to sit out the Olympics because she tested positive for COVID-19 just before she was 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, defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the singles final of the US Open, and then added her first Grand Slam doubles trophy at the French Open in June alongside Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
The same clay courts at Roland Garros used for the French Open will host matches for the Paris Olympics. The drawing to determine the brackets is Thursday and play begins on Saturday.
Gauff is ranked second in singles, which equals her current WTA ranking No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, and will be among the medal favorites.
She and her usual doubles partner, Jessica Pegula, are ranked No. 1 in women’s doubles. It is possible that Gauff will also compete in the mixed doubles, but those combinations have not yet been announced.