COCO GAUFF’S dreams of playing at the 2020 Olympics look set to be hindered by age restrictions on the 15-year-old.
American Gauff does not turn 16 until March 13 and WTA regulations aiming to protect youngsters from burnout mean she can only play one more tournament before her birthday.
That will the Indian Wells Open but there will continue to be limitations on how many tournaments she can play – Gauff intends to play in Miami and then the French Open.
For the Tokyo Games in August, the USA have four places for the taking.
Gauff is currently the fifth-ranked American in the qualifying process which is settled on June 8 and a strong performance at Roland Garros could still see her get in.
The teenager said: “Tokyo is definitely the goal. Hopefully I can get my ranking up and qualify.
“Im pretty sure I only have three tournaments before the French Open, so it will be difficult.
“But Im going to try as hard as possible. I definitely do want to play the Olympics. It would be pretty cool.”
Gauff burst on to the world stage by shocking Venus Williams on her way to the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2019.
And this month, she matched that performance at the Australian Open by beating Williams and defending champion Naomi Osaka.
The youngster was one set away from the quarter-finals before being knocked out by No14 seed and compatriot Sofia Kenin.
But Gauff was certainly keeping positive after another performance way beyond her years.
She added: “My short-term goal is to improve. Thats the main thing. Im doing well right now at 15.
“I still have so much I feel like I can get better on. Even my parents, my team, they all believe I can get better.
“I dont even think this is close to a peak for me, even though Im doing well right now.
“The goal is just really to get better, have these good runs at tournaments, build up my experience and play more tournaments just so I can be ready for matches like this today.”
