Gauff was shocked, joking that she thought Eubanks was just paying an unusual tribute during their wardrobe fitting. But when the news set in, she was moved to tears. The world No. 3 later said: “It made me cry. I didn’t want to cry in front of my teammates… but when I called my mum, I started crying.”

Eubanks has since revealed that he nominated Gauff for the honour. “The way the nomination process worked is all the players were emailed and told you could nominate someone on the team. I knew I wanted to nominate her but I wanted to check with her first. I don’t wanna put you in something you didn’t wanna do,” he explained.

“I was like ‘I’m gonna nominate you, are you ok with that? She goes ‘Oh, they’re not gonna have a tennis player. There’s no way they select me.’” But she was proven wrong and held the flag with LeBron James as Team USA sailed along the Seine.