American tennis superstar Coco Gauff entered the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on a high.
Gauff, 20, was chosen as one of the flag bearers for Team USA, becoming the first American tennis player in history to be given the honor.
“I wanted to cry when I found out,” Gauff told reporters about the distinction, which she shared with Team USA basketball star LeBron James.
During NBC’s broadcast of the opening ceremony on July 26, Gauff gushed about standing alongside James, 39, who she called “the GOAT.”
“I’m so excited and I can’t wait to do well in the Games,” Gauff told NBC Sports’ Maria Taylor.
Unfortunately, that’s not exactly how things played out.
After defeating Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović and Argentina’s María Lourdes Carlé in the first and second rounds, respectively, Gauff faced Croatia’s Donna Vekić in third-round action on July 30.
In their first-ever meeting, Vekić won a competitive first set tiebreak before things really went off the rails.
With Gauff facing a break point on her serve deep in the second set, a serve return from Vekić was initially called out by the line judge. However, chair umpire Jaume Campistol ruled the ball was in, rewarding the point and the crucial service break to Vekić. Gauff argued the point should have been replayed.
“I never argue these calls. But [the line judge] called it out before I hit the ball,” Gauff said to Campistol. “It’s not even a perception; it’s the rules.”
With tears streaming down her face, Gauff told the umpire, “It always happens here at the French Open to me. Every time.” After the controversial call, Gauff went on to lose the match to Vekić in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2.
In her argument, Gauff was referencing a similar incident — on the exact same court, in fact — from her semifinal loss against Iga Świątek at the French Open in June.
After the loss to Vekić, Gauff was a good sport in her post-match comments to reporters. “I’m not going to sit here and say one point affected the result today,” she acknowledged, “because I was already on the losing side of things.”
However, Gauff did continue to advocate for a universal video review system in tennis, which she also did after her loss to Świątek.
“There’s been multiple times this year where that happened to me, where I feel like I always have to be an advocate for myself on the court,” Gauff told the media in Paris. “I feel like in tennis, we should have a system because these points are big deals. And, yeah, usually afterwards, they apologize, so it’s kind of frustrating when the sorry doesn’t help you once the match is over.”
Hours after her singles loss to Vekić, Gauff and mixed doubles partner Taylor Fritz emerged victorious in their first round match against Nadia Podoroska and Maximo Gonzalez, taking out the Argentinians in a third-set super tiebreak.
The next day, though, brought more bad news for Gauff.
She and doubles partner Jessica Pegula, the No. 1 ranked team in Paris, crashed out in the second round to Czech duo Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova on July 31 in a third-set super tiebreak.
The loss was free of the drama and controversy of Gauff’s singles defeat the day prior, but the Americans let the match slip away after taking the first set routinely 6-2.
“We were playing well,” Gauff told reporters after the match. “Both of them just played a better tiebreaker.”
Gauff returned to the court later that day, when she and Fritz, 26, took on Canadians Felix Auger-Alisassime and Gabriela Dabrowski in the mixed doubles quarterfinals. For the second time in a matter of hours, Gauff went to a super tie-break to decide her match. Despite an early lead, she and Fritz lost the breaker 10-8 and Gauff suffered her third defeat in Paris in two days.
After entering the 2024 Summer Olympics with eyes on winning three medals, Gauff will leave Paris empty-handed.