"I love my country, but I gotta think about myself" - Frances Tiafoe withdraws from US Olympics team for Paris 2024; Madison Keys also pulls out

The United States Tennis Association has announced the final list of players representing the nation at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and Frances Tiafoe is amongst the notable absentees. Madison Keys is also not part of Team USA.

WTA World No. 2 Coco Gauff and ATP World No. 12 Taylor Fritz lead the 11-member tennis contingent for the USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The team also features World No. 5 Jessica Pegula, World No. 11 Danielle Collins, World No. 17 Emma Navarro, doubles World No. 11 Desirae Krawczyk on the women's side, and World No. 13 Tommy Paul, World No. 44 Chris Eubanks, World No. 53 Marcos Giron, and doubles World No. 6 Rajeev Ram and World No. 15 Austin Krajicek on the men's side.

Many high-profile Americans who were in contention for Team USA have not been announced as part of it. This includes World No. 14 Ben Shelton, World No. 23 Sebastian Korda, World No. 28 Frances Tiafoe, and World No. 12 Madison Keys. The withdrawal of these stars allowed Eubanks, Giron, and Navarro to be on their way to making an Olympic debut.

Frances Tiafoe is prioritizing his North American hardcourt swing over the Olympics. The 26-year-old, speaking to tennis journalist James Gray, opined that his participation in Paris would be "insignificant" compared to what he is trying to achieve in North America en route to the US Open.

"It's insignificant to what I'm trying to do going through to the US Open. I love my country, but I think I gotta think about myself," Frances Tiafoe said.

Frances Tiafoe made his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, Madison Keys' only appearance came at Rio 2016

Madison Keys pictured at 2016 Rio Olympics

Frances Tiafoe was part of Team USA for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. The former World No. 10 registered his maiden win at the tournament against South Korea's Kwon Soon-woo. He went on to lose to 6-3, 6-4 to Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.

Tiafoe also competed in the doubles category in Tokyo and was paired with former Olympic mixed doubles silver medalist Rajeev Ram. The duo bettered Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 13-12 in the first round before losing 6-3, 7-5 to Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig of Croatia in the second round.

Meanwhile, Madison Keys did not play at the Summer Games in Tokyo. The former World No. 7 made her Olympics debut at Rio 2016, where she was the seventh seed in the women's singles category. Keys defeated Danka Kovinic (Montenegro), Kristina Mladenovic (France), Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain), and Daria Kasakina (Russia) but lost to Angelique Kerber (Germany) in the semifinal. The American finished fourth after being bettered by Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) in the bronze medal match.