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Fritz, Paul, LeBron James & an Olympics reminiscence for a lifetime
People competing within the U.S. for first time since Olympics this week in Cincinnati
August 12, 2024
AFP/Getty Photos
The American Olympics tennis crew with NBA legend LeBron James through the Opening Ceremony.
By ATP Employees
LeBron James is likely one of the most recognisable individuals on the planet. Should you regarded carefully on the basketball legend on tv through the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics, there have been close by faces acquainted to tennis followers, together with Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.
With WTA star Coco Gauff a co-flagbearer for the USA alongside James, the remainder of the tennis crew was invited to the entrance of the American boat, giving them time with James and the remainder of the basketball crew.
“It was actually cool. It was superior that Coco was a flagbearer, and it was superior for all of us as properly, due to the truth that we did type of get to expertise the opening ceremonies somewhat bit in a different way than all the opposite People, as a result of we had been up entrance with the basketball gamers,” Fritz instructed ATPTour.com on the Cincinnati Open, the place he’s the eleventh seed. “We had been good within the entrance, on the boat within the opening ceremonies. It was one of many coolest experiences.”
James, who helped lead the USA to a gold medal in males’s basketball, took a photograph with your entire American tennis contingent.
“It was cool. We had been simply using the Coco Gauff prepare. We had been solely up there due to her, so it was cool seeing her have her second,” Paul mentioned. “Clearly unreal to be a flagbearer on the Olympics, in order that was actually cool.”
The ATP tennis gamers who attended the Opening Ceremony — Fritz, Paul, Christopher Eubanks and Marcos Giron — additionally rode to the ceremony on the identical bus as their nation’s basketball crew, which was a who’s who of one of the best gamers on this planet.
“Being on the on the bus with the U.S. basketball crew was actually cool, too,” Paul, the tenth seed in Cincinnati, mentioned. “We did not speak an excessive amount of to them. I talked to Jrue Vacation somewhat bit, and Derrick White, however Bron, we type of simply bought an image with. I believe he was speaking to Coco more often than not.”
Fritz reached the third spherical in singles and Paul superior to the quarter-finals, however they didn’t come dwelling empty handed. The People earned bronze in males’s doubles, becoming a member of silver medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram as tennis medalists from the USA.
With reminiscences for a lifetime in hand, they are going to flip their consideration to their first match in the USA for the reason that Olympics, the Cincinnati Open.
Fritz mentioned: “I believe earlier than the occasion even began, earlier than we had been capable of medal, simply that alone made me pleased with my choice to go.”
