Coco Gauff went into the Olympics full of hope and promise, and has exited with little to show for it.
There were big expectations resting upon her young shoulders, and unfortunately, as is in-keeping with her tumultuous 2024, she failed to step up and succeed.
However, she cannot dwell on those failures, as she has a US Open title to defend.
That being said, the American cannot completely gloss over her time in Paris…
Coco Gauff explains weird moment at the Olympics
Speaking at her press conference ahead of this year’s iteration of the Toronto Open, Coco Gauff could not speak about tennis without first reacting to the Olympics.
After all, it is an event which comes around so scarcely, and yet holds such great esteem despite there being no prize money or ranking points involved.
Glory is on the line, and yet the 20-year-old failed to grasp it despite entering into all three draws.
Looking back on the event, it was something off the court that really caught her by surprise, as she noted: ‘One thing I didn’t expect was I didn’t expect other athletes to ask me for photos or anything. It was weird. Taylor was like you won the US Open! It was just very weird. I wasn’t expecting in the village for people to come up and ask for photos with me and some people I looked up to.’
Coco Gauff’s really disappointing Olympics campaign
Despite her youth, going into the 2024 Paris Olympics, Gauff upheld the bulk of American hopes for the tennis.
After all, she went into the singles event as the number two seed, and in both doubles events she held great expertise having won her maiden Grand Slam doubles title at Roland Garros too.
There was great hope, with her selection as the female flag bearer alongside LeBron James indicative of this.
So, her campaign can only go down as a crushing disappointment, despite her youth and this being her first-ever Olympic Games.
An early exit in the mixed doubles with Taylor Fritz was almost to be expected, but her combination with Jessica Pegula should have done better than losing to the Czech partnership of two players who were both lower-ranked than both of the Americans.
Meanwhile, having breezed into the third round of the singles draw, facing an in-form Donna Vekic who went on to win the silver medal, she was hit off the park.
That being said, there was great controversy as Coco Gauff cried and shouted at the umpire for one questionable decision.
That moment almost summed up her entire Olympics, but fortunately she will have plenty more chances to avenge this performance.
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