Tennis player Coco Gauff will miss Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19

Coco Gauff.
(Image credit: AELTC/Joe Toth - Pool/Getty Images)

After testing positive for COVID-19, tennis player Coco Gauff announced on Sunday she will not compete in the Tokyo Olympics.

The 17-year-old tweeted the news, saying she was "so disappointed" to have tested positive for the virus. "It has always been a dream of mine to represent the USA at the Olympics, and I hope there will be many more chances for me to make this come true in the future," Gauff added.

Gauff was expected to lead the team in Tokyo, and the U.S. Tennis Association said in a statement on Sunday that the entire "Olympic contingent is heartbroken for Coco. We wish her the best as she deals with this unfortunate situation and hope to see her back on the courts very soon."

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On Saturday, Tokyo Olympic President Seiko Hashimoto revealed that an organizer of the games who was staying in the Olympic Village tested positive for COVID-19. Several members of Team South Africa have also been infected with the virus, including two soccer players, a video analyst, and a rugby coach, NBC News reports.

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.