Brady, Giron and other former NCAA standouts vie for gold at Tokyo Olympics 

The Tokyo Olympics is rapidly approaching and nineteen NCAA standouts (four women, fifteen men) will be making their way to the Olympic Games in just a few weeks.

Among them include a handful of first-time Olympians: 2021 Australian Open finalist Jennifer Brady (UCLA), Ellen Perez (Georgia), Maya Sherif (Pepperdine), Ena Shibahara (UCLA), Marcos Giron (UCLA), Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M), and Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee).

UCLA alone boasts four former players; 17% of singles competitors are former collegiate athletes.

Brady, who earned the Newcomer of the Year Award for her outstanding 2013-2014 season at UCLA owned a 23-match winning streak, picking up the Pac-12 singles title during the incredible run. She also helped her team to win the 2014 NCAA Championship that season.

Since her days at UCLA, Brady made slow and steady progress throughout her pro career, but when tennis returned amidst the pandemic last year she revealed a whole new level. The American captured her first WTA title in Lexington before reaching the US Open's last four. She kicked off 2021 with another dream run at the Australian Open and came up just short of the title, falling to Osaka again in the final round.

Ranked No. 15 in the world, Brady will look to do some damage in Japan.

Another first-time Olympian from UCLA is Marcos Giron. Similar to Brady, Giron had a standout 2020, making notable showings in Antwerp and finished off the year with a Round of 16 run at the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris.

Most recently, the 27-year-old defeated Vasek Pospisil and Jan-Lennard Struff to reach the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 event in Halle. Giron will look to bring home the gold alongside Sandgren, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and Rajeev Ram.

The action begins July 24.