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Fritz, Paul, LeBron James & an Olympics reminiscence for a lifetime

Individuals competing within the U.S. for first time since Olympics this week in Cincinnati

August 12, 2024

LeBron James is without doubt one of the most recognisable folks on the planet. In case you regarded intently 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 US alongside James, the remainder of the tennis staff was invited to the entrance of the American boat, giving them time with James and the remainder of the basketball staff.

“It was actually cool. It was superior that Coco was a flagbearer, and it was superior for all of us as effectively, due to the truth that we did sort of get to expertise the opening ceremonies a little bit bit in a different way than all the opposite Individuals, 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 excellent within the entrance, on the boat within the opening ceremonies. It was one of many coolest experiences.”

James, who helped lead the US to a gold medal in males’s basketball, took a photograph with the whole 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 staff, which was a who’s who of the perfect gamers on the earth.

“Being on the bus with the U.S. basketball staff was actually cool, too,” Paul, the tenth seed in Cincinnati, mentioned. “We did not discuss an excessive amount of to them. I talked to Jrue Vacation a little bit bit, and Derrick White, however Bron, we sort of simply obtained an image with. I feel 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 residence empty handed. The Individuals earned bronze in males’s doubles, becoming a member of silver medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram as tennis medalists from the US.

With reminiscences for a lifetime in hand, they’ll flip their consideration to their first event in the US because the Olympics, the Cincinnati Open.

Fritz mentioned: “I feel 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.”