June 20 (UPI) — Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz, the highest-ranking American tennis players, will headline Team USA at the 2024 Summer Games, the United States Tennis Association announced Thursday.
Olympic matches will be held from July 27 to Aug. 4 on the clay courts of Roland Garros, the home of the French Open, in Paris.
Gauff, the No. 2 player in the WTA singles rankings, and the top-ranked women’s or men’s American player, will be joined by No. 5 Jessica Pegula, No. 11 Danielle Collins, No. 17 Emma Navarro and Desirae Krawczyk, the No. 11 doubles player in the world.
Fritz, the No. 12 player in the ATP singles rankings, will join No. 13 Tommy Paul, No. 44 Chris Eubanks, No. 53 Marcos Giron and doubles players Rajeev Ram (No. 6) and Austin Krajicek (No. 15).
Gauff was named to the team for the 2020 Summer Games, which were delayed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. She did not play because she tested positive for COVID-19.
Ram, who won silver in mixed doubles at the 2016 Summer Games, will participate in the Olympics for the third time. Pegula, Giron, Paul and Krajicek will make their second Olympic appearances.
Collins, Navarro, Krawczyk, Fritz and Eubanks are set to make their Olympic debuts.
Team USA, which owns a record 21 gold medals in Olympic tennis, earned its most recent when Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock teamed up to win mixed doubles at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Serena Williams was the last American to win singles gold. She claimed that medal, in addition to a doubles medal alongside sister Venus Williams, at the 2012 Summer Games in England.
That tournament was held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London, which hosts Wimbledon.
No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany and No. 5 Daniil Medvedev of Russia are among the top men’s players set to compete in the Summer Games
No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, Gauff, No. 4 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, Pegula, No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy, No. 8 Qinwen Zheng of China, No. 9 Maria Sakkari of Greece and Collins are among the top women’s players expected to play in Paris.
