Paris 2024 Olympics: Coco Gauff on serving as Team USA flagbearer with LeBron James - "No words truly"
It's been a busy first few days at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 for Coco Gauff - and that was before she even played a competitive tennis match.
The world No.2 and reigning US Open champion was selected as Team USA's co-flagbearer alongside NBA great LeBron James, an honour that shocked her from the moment she found out from tennis teammate and good friend Christopher Eubanks.
After heading the Americans' barge alongside James during the historic ceremony, Gauff took to social media to share that she was still rendered speechless: "No words truly," she wrote in the caption of her alongside James.
She added: "What an honour"
The post was a hit with Olympic champions, with gymnast Suni Lee writing "you're the coolest" and skiier Mikaela Shiffrin adding, "Yesssssss."
Gauff got her Olympic campaign underway officially on Saturday (27 July) on the doubles court alongside longtime partner Jessica Pegula. They beat the Australian duo of Ellen Perez and Daria Saville, 6-3 6-1 in 73 minutes played.
Gauff is due to get her singles started on Sunday (28 July) against another Australian in Ajla Tomljanovic, who has been ranked as high as world No.32 but has recently been sidelined by a spate of injuries.
Tomljanovic was the player who beat Serena Williams in the final match of her career at the 2022 US Open.
It's set to be a busy week for Gauff at Stade Roland-Garros, the site of the Olympic tennis event. Just how busy? Read on to find out.
Coco Gauff: One of just eight women doing Olympic triple
Gauff said earlier this year that her goal was to climb on the podium in all three tennis events - singles, doubles and mixed doubles. It's a big ask, especially for a tournament that lasts just eight days compared to the Grand Slams held over two weeks.
In fact, Gauff is just one of eight women who have opted to play across all three tennis events. The list is as follows:
- Coco Gauff (USA)
- Maria Sakkari (GRE)
- Mirra Andreeva (AIN)
- Caroline Garcia (FRA)
- Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
- Sara Errani (ITA)
- Laura Siegemund (GRE)
- Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP)
As mentioned, Gauff is playing doubles alongside Pegula, a teammate who helped her reach the world No.1 doubles ranking and whom she's won five doubles titles with, while also finishing as runner-up at Roland-Garros in 2022.
Gauff has paired up with Taylor Fritz in the mixed doubles. They face Elena Rybakina and Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the first round.