Coco Gauff Withdraws from Tokyo Olympics After Testing Positive for COVID: 'I Am So Disappointed'

Photo: Recep Sakar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Coco Gauffhas withdrawn from her first Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.

“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 continued. “I want to wish TEAM USA best of luck and a safe games for every Olympian and the entire Olympic family.”

Shewas picked for Team USAin women’s singles earlier this month, based on world rankingsout of the French Openafter several top-ranked players turned down invites to the Summer Olympics. It made Gauff the youngest Olympic tennis player since Mario Ančić made his debut at the 2000 Sydney Olympics at age 16.

Gauff made headlines in July 2019 when shedefeated her “idol” Serena Williamsat only 15 years old. “When I was younger, I was just dreaming about winning tournaments and winning slams I guess, and I didn’t think about all that would come with it,” she latertold PEOPLE of her overnight fame.

“So like, I guess I had time to mentally prepare for the winning but not necessarily the off the court,” Gauff added. “But honestly, I’m just grateful that I’ve been given the platform and I hope that I’m able to use this platform in the right way.”

Coco Gauff.Kelly Defina/Getty

The Atlanta native’s exit from the Olympicscomes after the first two positive COVID testsfrom athletes in the Olympic village — Thabiso Monyane and Kamohelo Mahlatsi from South Africa’s football (soccer) team.

Listen below toour daily podcast PEOPLE Every Dayfor more on Coco Gauff.

With 11,000 athletes and thousands of support staff expected to stay in the Olympic village, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has said that there is “zero” risk of athletes infecting Japanese residents with COVID-19. Spectatorshave recently been banned from attendingthe Summer Olympics as Tokyo declared a state of emergency. Additionally, all Olympians are required to wear face masks inside Olympic village, even if they’re vaccinated.

RELATED VIDEO:Serena WilliamsSays She Won’t Be Going to Tokyo Olympics: ‘There’s a Lot of Reasons’

Nearly 10,000 of the 80,000 unpaid Olympic volunteers previouslypulled out of the event, many citing COVID-19 concerns. Meanwhile, a recent study found that almost 60 percent of people in Japanwant the Summer Olympics to be cancelledfor the same reasoning.

To learn more about all the Olympic hopefuls, visitTeamUSA.org. The Tokyo Olympics begin July 23rd on NBC.

source: people.com