World No. 3 Coco Gauff , who is participating in the Madrid Open, lauded American track and field sprinter Noah Lyles for his comments on the USA’s basketball team for the Olympics.
She thanked him for questioning whether the National Basketball Association (NBA) winners are indeed the world champions when only teams from the USA and Canada are participating in the tournament.
This comment sparked controversy, and Lyles dealt with criticism from the NBA players as well last year. That year, America lost the FIBA Basketball World Cup. They lost to Germany in the semifinals and to Canada in the bronze medal match.
However, last week, America announced a formidable 12-man squad for the upcoming Paris Olympics, exciting Gauff like many other Americans. She thanked Lyles for the criticism, which subsequently led to the formation of a team with the best players in the NBA for the Paris Olympics.
Noah Lyles, I haven’t met him, but people like to say that he kind of started that super squad because of his comment about NBA [champions] being world champions. So, thank you, Noah Lyles, for assembling the Avengers. Coco Gauff said ahead of her Madrid Open match
The reigning US Open champion feels the world will stop rotating if a team consisting of the NBA’s best players loses the Olympic gold.
The team has all-time scorer LeBron James, three-time Olympic gold medalist Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo, and Kawhi Leonard.
Coco Gauff won’t wait for long to invest in WNBA
Coco Gauff is a basketball fan and played the sport during her childhood. Her father, Corey Gauff, was a college-level player and wanted his daughter to take up the sport.
Though the 20-year-old chose the tennis racket for her career, she sometimes wishes to face Caitlin Clark in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). Like 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, Gauff also wants to invest in women’s basketball.
Though aware of the money in her purse, Gauff still doesn’t want to wait for the future to invest in the WNBA, or women’s soccer, to promote them.
But you know, maybe like a small percentage. That is something that I really want to do, whether it’s in the WNBA or women’s soccer. Just to invest and promote it. Coco Gauff said
Gauff’s first-round match is against Arantxa Rus in the Madrid Open. The American previously participated at the Stuttgart Open, losing in the quarterfinals to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.
More must-reads: