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

AP | Coco Gauff will lead the U.S. tennis team at the Paris Olympics 3 years after missing the Tokyo Games because she tested positive for COVID-19.

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

Olympic tennis starts July 27 at Roland Garros, the site of the French Open.

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

Gauff is the U.S. Open champion and has reached the semifinals at the year’s first two Grand Slams, the Australian and French Opens. She was a finalist on the Roland Garros clay in 2022 and will be a medal contender in doubles, too.

Gauff and Pegula have won five doubles titles as a pair. Gauff won her first major doubles title – with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic – at the French Open this month.

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