Former silver medallist says American’s ‘will regret it for the rest of their lives’ after Olympic withdrawals
A former US Olympic silver medallist has claimed that his compatriots ‘will regret it for the rest of their lives’, after the likes of Frances Tiafoe and Madison Keys were confirmed to be missing the Paris Games.
The men’s singles lineup consists of Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Chris Eubanks and Marcos Giron, with Frances Tiafoe, Ben Shelton and Sebastian Korda all electing to skip the event.
Former US Open finalist Madison Keys is the biggest name missing from the women’s singles entries that includes Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins and Emma Navarro.
It’s time to get the ????
Meet the team representing ???????? on the tennis courts in Paris! pic.twitter.com/VppnK3dIC7
— USTA (@usta) June 20, 2024
Tim Mayotte medalled at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, making it all the way to the singles final before being beaten by Miloslav Mecir.
And it appears that the now 63-year-old’s passion for the Games is still alive, with the American posting on social media after the US lineup for Paris 2024 was confirmed.
“Unless they win Wimby [Wimbledon] and/or the [US] Open they will regret it for the rest of their lives,” claimed Mayot.
Unless they win Wimby and/or the Open they will regret it for the rest of their lives. https://t.co/FCm3iOV1Gy
— Tim Mayotte (@TimMayotte) June 20, 2024
Tiafoe, Shelton, Korda and Keys are not the only big names that have confirmed they will be voluntarily skipping the Olympic Games in Paris later this year.
Earlier this week, top 10 players Aryna Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur announced that they would be missing the event, with Emma Raducanu also confirming that she had turned down a wildcard due to the quick surface change.
They join a list of other players to withdraw including Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Liudmila Samsonova and Elise Mertens.
Inside the baseline…
It was already well documented that Ben Shelton was going to be skipping his debut Games, but some of the other names on the list are more surprising – especially considering how competitive it is to represent the US in any sport. However, a common theme of many of the withdrawals for this years Olympics concerns the surface change from grass-clay-hard in such a short space of time, which for players who have had previous injury concerns makes it more understandable for them to pull out.
READ MORE: Aryna Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur headline growing Olympic withdrawal list
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