Clay courts or not, Bryan believes in US team's tenacity at Olympic Games led by Fritz

United States team captain Bob Bryan believes that his men are prepared for a medal tilt at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with no excuses from his end surrounding the surface and the lack of experience and guile that some of their stars may have on it.

Taylor Fritz will lead a partially depleted men's US line-up with Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton among those to snub the chance to play at Roland Garros from July 27 onwards. Even the women's team though with Madison Keys declining the invite will not be at full strength albeit with Emma Navarro instead taking her place.

Experiencing the Olympic Games as a player, Bryan says that the best advice he could have for the men is just to soak it up and also take part in all of the fun stuff with the Olympic Games over getting wrapped up in the matches and the tournament.

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“As a captain of the team, I’m only focused on getting the guys ready to do their best and to try to perform for the U.S. and try to win a medal,” Bryan told Tennis.com.

“Obviously, we know it’s challenging. It’s red clay. We’ve got a couple of Californians on the team. I grew up on the hard courts there. I never played on clay until I was in the pros. So obviously I know it’s not maybe everyone’s favorite surface but our guys are dangerous on anything. They’re experienced. They’re not young guys anymore.

“They’ve done the clay-court seasons many times over. They’ve had huge wins over many, many top players, so it’s all about putting it together at the right time. I think it’s going to be a magical atmosphere that’s going to bring out special performances in players.

“I think you’re either going to rise to the occasion or you might crumble under the pressure. All our guys are gamers. I would just say enjoy it, soak it up. That first time in Athens, I think Mike and I were crippled by the weight of expectations. And we left there devastated. We didn’t really soak up the experience as much as we could have. We had blinders on. I would say take the blinders off and meet all the other athletes,” Bryan added.

“Hear their stories and do the pin trading, which is a really fun part of the Games. I think these players are going to remember this experience for the rest of their lives. I would say 95% of athletes aren’t there to win a medal.

“They are just so pumped to be there so it’s a very joyful environment. I know a lot of the guys want to stay in the village and just really, relish the whole experience.”

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