Olympics-Tennis-Gauff focused on collecting pins from LeBron, not dropping flag at opening ceremony

By Rory Carroll

PARIS (Reuters) - Coco Gauff said she is excited and a little nervous to meet fellow U.S. flag bearer LeBron James for the first time when the pair carry the Stars and Stripes on a boat down the Seine at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.

The 20-year-old U.S. Open champion will be the youngest-ever U.S. flag bearer and the first American tennis player to be awarded the honour which she will share with four-time NBA champion James, who she called one of her idols.

"I haven't met him yet so I don't think I'll have the confidence to do that," Gauff said when asked if she planned to record a TikTok with James.

"But my team is really nagging me about getting pins from him so I will try to ask him for pins for my team and my captain, but I don't know, I'm kind of scared."

Speaking to reporters on the eve of the highly-anticipated ceremony, Gauff said that while she has set lofty career goals for herself, flag bearing was one she never imagined.

Gauff teared up when her fellow Team USA tennis teammates surprised her with the ceremonial white blazer on Wednesday but said she was still awaiting instructions about her official duties.

"I'm literally going in blind," she said.

"I've been looking at pictures of other opening ceremonies but I don't think anyone has ever done it on a boat so I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.

"I just hope I don't drop it and I hope it's not too high," she said with a laugh.

"That's what I've been thinking about the most."

The world number two exploded onto the international stage five years ago when she beat another of her idols, Venus Williams, in the first round at Wimbledon when she was aged just 15.

She clinched her maiden major title at the U.S. Open last year.

Three years ago Gauff was forced to miss the Tokyo Olympics when she tested positive for COVID on the day she was supposed to leave for Japan.

"It was very disappointing," she said.

"But it makes this opportunity and this moment a lot sweeter."

Gauff is expected to compete in both the singles and doubles on the clay courts at Roland Garros. The Olympic tennis competition begins on Saturday.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Paris, editing by Pritha Sarkar)