When Coco Gauff advanced to the quarterfinals of the French Open last month, she officially grabbed her preliminary spot to the Tokyo Olympics this summer. Gauff's response on Twitter: "2020 goals." Now, the teams have been made official, which means Gauff and her five teammates are taking off for Tokyo later this month. The 17-year-old Gauff, who burst onto the scene with a Wimbledon victory over Venus Williams, will be the youngest Olympic tennis player since 2000, when Mario Ancic (16) and Jelena Dokic (17) both competed. At the 2020 US Open, Gauff said that making the Olympics was "definitely a goal of mine," so mark this one as mission accomplished. So who's joining Gauff in Tokyo?
Who Is On the US Women's Tennis Team for the Tokyo Olympics?
The U.S women's tennis team will be:
- Jennifer Brady
- Coco Gauff
- Jessica Pegula
- Alison Riske
- Nicole Melichar (doubles)
- Bethanie Mattek-Sands (doubles)
Fifth-ranked Sofia Kenin chose not to to play, as did Serena Williams (ranked eighth) and Madison Keys (ranked 27th). The World Tennis Association (WTA) rankings as of June 14 are used by the ITF to determine Olympic teams for the singles tournament.
As it stands now, Jennifer Brady will be the top-ranked American woman competing in singles, rated 15th in the world and coming off a 2021 Australian Open Finals appearance in which she lost to Naomi Osaka. Below her is No. 23 Gauff, followed by Jessica Pegula, who's ranked 26th in the world and caught attention this year when she made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Alison Riske is ranked 29th. As currently scheduled, the doubles teams would be Gauff and Melichar and Mattek-Sands and Pegula.
Altogether, this group of Americans will look to reclaim Olympic singles gold for the first time since London 2012, when Serena Williams stood atop the podium. In 2016, the US took home gold and silver medals in mixed doubles, as well as bronze in men's doubles.
To learn more about all the Olympic hopefuls, visit TeamUSA.org. The Tokyo Olympics begin July 23 on NBC.
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