Coco Gauff named Team USA flag bearer for Paris 2024

July 24 (UPI) -- Tennis sensation Coco Gauff will join LeBron James as a Team USA flag bearer during the 2024 Summer Games opening ceremony Friday in Paris, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced Wednesday.

"What an honor, thank you," Gauff wrote Wednesday on her Instagram story. "Am I dreaming?"

Fellow Team USA tennis player Chris Eubanks announced the honor for Gauff on Wednesday morning in Paris. Team USA posted footage of the moment on social media.

Gauff, 20, will be the youngest Olympic flag bearer in Team USA history.

"I was not expecting that," Gauff said as other Team USA tennis stars applauded in the background. "Thank you guys. OK, I'm not gonna cry. I'm OK."

Opening Ceremony Flag Bearer @CocoGauff .

The moment Coco got the news from her teammate @chris_eubanks96 ... #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/yjIWPjm6J1 — Team USA (@TeamUSA) July 24, 2024

Coverage of the Paris 2024 opening ceremony, including a preview show, will start at noon EDT Friday on NBC platforms. The opening ceremony will start at 1:30 p.m. and is expected to last more than four hours. An encore presentation will air at 7:30 p.m.

Athletes will board boats and float down the Seine River as part of the ceremony. First Lady Jill Biden and women's basketball coach Dawn Staley also are expected to be part of the U.S. delegation .

Gauff, 20, is set to make her Olympic debut this summer in Paris. She also was selected for Tokyo 2020, but was forced to withdraw from that tournament because she tested positive for COVID-19.

Gauff, ranked a career-high No. 2 in the world, won her first Grand Slam singles title in September at the 2023 U.S. Open. That title-winning trek started a run of three-consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances for the American tennis star.

The Delray Beach, Fla., native lost in the fourth round of Wimbledon 2024 earlier this month in London. She lost to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland in the 2024 French Open semifinals June 6 in Paris.

Gauff will return to the same clay courts of Roland Garros for the Olympic tennis tournament, which will be held from Saturday through Aug. 4.

The draw ceremony for the tennis tournament will be held Thursday at Roland Garros.