Coco Gauff shares emotional message to Serena Williams ahead of Olympics

Coco Gauff shares an emotional message for her 'friend and mentor' Serena Williams just a week before the Olympic Games. The world No. 2 will be in Paris 2024, which will be held at Roland Garros, where she reached the final in 2022.

Gauff wrote a letter to herself four years ago on the Olympic Games website. The American qualified for Tokyo 2021 as world No. 23, but could not participate due to testing positive for COVID-19 a day before traveling to Asia.

The American No. 1 will bear the responsibility of bringing a medal back to the USA in women's tennis at the Olympic Games, something Serena Williams last achieved in 2012. The 23-time Grand Slam champion won four Olympic gold medals in singles and doubles.

Gauff, 21, will participate in the Olympic Games for the first time and has repeatedly expressed her excitement about finally attending the Olympic event. She now sent a letter to herself at 17, when she was left out of Tokyo due to testing positive for COVID-19, preventing her from traveling.

"Behind a stream of tears, you’re going to wonder how you’ll ever be able to break the news to your team captain. Your teammates and friends will have to contend on behalf of your country without you," she wrote. "The fresh perspective on your situation will make a new goal clear to you: qualifying for the 2024 Paris Games.

“While tennis is an individual sport, you relish the relationships with your teammates,” the 2023 US Open champion wrote, “You’ve been lucky enough that your on-court relationships have turned into off-court friendships. One of those notable friendships is with your idol, Serena Williams."

“Serena was once just a stranger printed on a poster hanging in your room, and now you still can’t believe she’s a friend and mentor," she added. “Her profound impact on tennis, what it means to be a champion and to break barriers is a legacy you hope to uphold and carry with you into your first Olympic Games.”

The last female American to win a medal in singles was Serena Williams' gold in 2012. Before that, it was at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games when Venus Williams won gold and Monica Seles took bronze.

Since then, in both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, American female players have not won a medal in singles or doubles. However, in Rio, they won gold and silver medals in mixed doubles, with the pair of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock defeating Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram in the final.