Coco Gauff will make her Olympic debut in this summer’s games in Paris. She previously qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, but had to withdraw from the competition after testing positive for COVID-19.
Recently, I caught up with one of Gauff’s biggest supporters her grandmother, Yvonne Odom.
I spoke with Odom while Gauff was in the middle of playing in the ecotrans Ladies Open in Berlin, Germany. She said her granddaughter has been looking forward to the day of walking out on the court for her first match in the Olympics since she was forced to withdraw the day she was supposed to leave for the Tokyo games.
She said Gauff feels the second time around is even sweeter considering she’s ranked as the number two player in the world and the top female American player.
Odom said her granddaughter wants to win a medal and actually has no preference as to which one, in either doubles or singles.
She still gets anxious watching her granddaughter play.
“Unequivocally, because I was that same way when my daughter ran track in high school and in college,” Odom said. “I used to hold my head down, wait until I heard the gun go off, then I’d look up, and it’s no different now with Coco.”
Odom said Gauff will compete in Wimbledon before the Olympics, even though it’s a quick turnaround.