“It has always been a dream of mine to represent the USA at the Olympics,” Coco Gauff has often said. Did she accomplish her dream? Well, after missing out on the chance to make her debut at the Olympics in Tokyo, Gauff was quite optimistic about making it a superhit this time. Did she succeed? No. However, she was thrilled to become the youngest flag bearer of the Team USA at the Opening Ceremony. This journey has been full of extreme highs and lows for the 20-year-old as of now. She recently spoke about her own twisted fate at this mega event during an interview in Montreal.

American tennis fans were quite optimistic about the world number 2 this time. However, Gauff could only manage to reach the third round in singles, and the second round in the women’s doubles event but she made it to the QF at the mixed doubles event with Taylor Fritz. While speaking on her experience at her debut Olympic appearance Gauff said, “I had a great experience. I mean it was from not being able to go to Tokyo to be able to go here, I just feel like you know LA (2028), I’ll hopefully be on the podium.“

She added, “I just don’t know, I just feel like that’s what life consists of like having a disappointing result and then the next time is like the best thing in the world (laughs).” Gauff revealed that all she wants now is to learn from this experience and come up with better results at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The youngster has also assured her fans that she’d “100% choose to do it again” even if she lost her first round. Gauff claimed it was an incredible journey this year, right from being the flag bearer to meeting several other athletes, she loved every bit of it except for one…

Looking back at Coco Gauff’s journey at her first Olympics

Coco Gauff has time and revealed that for her Olympics is a “top priority” and this is one such event which she’d keep on level with the Grand Slams. The young American had mentioned earlier that she didn’t want to put too much pressure on her self and rather treat it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. However, at the back of her mind, there was always this goal of winning a medal for her nation. That’s something that she had mentioned in her vision note, on her phone as well. It started off pretty well for the young gun, as she broke the record of Cindy Nelson (1976) of becoming the youngest US Opening Ceremony flag bearer.

Gauff became a bit emotional upon hearing this announcement and stated, “I never thought in a million years I would have the honor of carrying the American flag for Team USA in the Opening Ceremony.” However, during the later stages of her campaign, the tears of joy turned to tears of agony. Gauff claimed that she had fallen prey to a poor calling from the chair umpire, Jaume Campistol in her R3 against Croatia’s Donna Vekic. She lost the match afterwards by 7-6(7),6-2, and broke down in tears claiming, “It always happens here at the French Open to me. Every time.“

This surely, wasn’t the way she would’ve liked to end her maiden campaign, but still, every loss gives you a scope of learning. American tennis fans now hope she takes her lesson from this and makes a stronger comeback on home soil in 2028.