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U.S. Olympic, Paralympic teams named for Tokyo 2020

July 01, 2021


Team USA will send 19 tennis players to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer in Japan, as revealed in a historic joint announcement by the USTA on Thursday. Of the 19 selections, three are former medalists—Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Rajeev Ram and David Wagner—while 12 will be competing at the Games for the first time.

 

The Olympic team will consist of 12 players—six women and six men—with four singles players and two doubles teams per gender. First-time Olympians Jennifer Brady, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Alison Riske will compete in the women’s singles competition. In doubles, Nicole Melichar, also a first-time Olympian, will look to make her mark at the Games when she partners with Gauff.  Update: With Gauff unable to travel to Tokyo after testing positive for COVID-19, Riske will team with Melichar. They will be joined by 2016 mixed doubles gold medalist Mattek-Sands, who will partner with Pegula in the doubles draw.  The women’s team will be led by coach Kathy Rinaldi, who also captains the U.S. Billie Jean King Cup team. 

 

The men’s singles team also includes four Olympic debutants, with Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe, Tennys Sandgren and Marcos Giron all looking to climb the podium. Ram, the reigning mixed doubles silver medalist, will return to the Olympics for the doubles competition, this time partnering with Tiafoe. Austin Krajicek, another first-time Olympian, will be teaming with Sandgren. The men will be led by coach David Nainkin.

 

The American mixed doubles team(s), to be selected from among the 12 players named, will be announced at a later date. The mixed competition is being contested at the Olympics for the third time since tennis returned to the Games in 1988.

 

The 2020 Olympic Games will be held July 23-Aug. 8 in Tokyo, with the tennis competition being staged July 24-Aug. 1 at the Ariake Colosseum. The U.S. has won 24 Olympic medals (14 gold) in men’s and women’s tennis since it returned as a full medal sport in 1988—more than any other nation. 

 

Story continues below video.

The Paralympic team will consist of seven players across the women’s, men’s and Quad events.  Four-time Paralympian and eight-time Paralympic medalist Wagner will lead the U.S. Paralympic Team into Tokyo. Wagner will look to claim a Quad medal for the fifth consecutive Games, with his current medal count including three doubles gold medals (and one silver), as well as two singles silvers and two singles bronze medals. 

 

Wagner will be joined again at the Paralympic Games by Dana Mathewson, Emmy Kaiser and Shelby Baron in the women’s field and Bryan Barten in the Quad field, all of whom competed in Rio four years ago. Casey Ratzlaff and Conner Stroud will be making their Paralympic debuts in the men’s field, and the Paralympic team will be led by coach Jason Harnett.

 

The 2020 Paralympic Games will be held Aug. 24-Sept. 5 in Tokyo, with the tennis competition also being staged at the Ariake Colosseum from Aug. 27-Sept. 4. The U.S. will be one of 31 countries, represented by the 104 wheelchair tennis competitors from around the world. This year’s Paralympic Games mark the eighth time wheelchair tennis will be part of the competition, and the fifth time the Quad division will be included.

 

“The USTA is excited to make history by announcing the 19 athletes, including 12 first-time Olympians and Paralympians, to make up the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Tennis Team,” said Mike McNulty, USTA Chairman of the Board and President. “These athletes have worked extremely hard over the last five years to earn their spot to represent Team USA.  We look forward to watching and rooting for them as they go for gold medals on the courts in Tokyo.”

 

All team nominations are subject to U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee approval.

 

To view the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams in full, click through the photo gallery below!


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