PARIS — Team USA's tennis players are preparing to compete and take home medals on the challenging red clay surface at Roland-Garros — the home of the French Open.
Florida is home to several of the tennis athletes representing Team USA.
It was announced Wednesday that Delray Beach's Coco Gauff will be the USA's flag bearer at Friday's opening ceremonies.
WPTV First Alert Weather meteorologist Frances Peyton, who is currently in Paris, was able to do a Zoom interview with Clearwater native Austin Krajicek prior to the start of the Games.
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Shortly before the interview, Krajicek had finished a match with his Olympic men's doubles partner, Rajeev Ram, in Germany.
Austin explained that it is a never-ending tour of hopping from one tournament to another — even days before the Paris Olympics.
"It's a never-ending grind," Krajicek said. "We're used to it, to say the least. ... Everyone's healthy and feeling pretty good, so we're excited to get to Paris and compete next week."
He competed in Tokyo in 2021, finishing fourth in men's doubles tennis.
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Ram has had a sensational men's doubles career, representing Team USA at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021. Ram and Venus Williams claimed silver in Rio in mixed doubles. Peyton was actually in attendance at the match!
"Last year we won the French Open there at Roland-Garros, and then we made the finals the year before and had match points in that one as well," Krajicek said. "We've had some really good memories there, and I played some of my best tennis of my career in Chatrier Stadium."
Krajicek is ranked No. 21 in the world in doubles while Ram is ranked No. 5 in the world in doubles.
"Raj and I have a good bit of experience," Krajicek said. "He's got a lot, a little bit more winning experience than I have in some of the big ones. ... We'll hopefully lean on that a bit and try to capitalize as we play some of these other teams next week."
They will be an exciting pair to watch as they seek to bring home a medal for Team USA.