Coco Gauff’s rising career hits a bump before she defends her first Grand Slam title.

Yes, Coco Gauff is a Grand Slam champion. Yes, she’s been ranked No. 1 in doubles and No. 2 in singles.

Yes, she’s already a big star who transcends her sport and was a flag bearer alongside LeBron James at the Paris 2024 Olympics … and has a signature shoe ….and is featured on Wheaties boxes and yet, back in New York for Monday’s start of the U.S. Open, which she won a year ago for her first major trophy — the first American teen to do so since Serena Williams in 1999 — Gauff still occasionally might sound like someone who deals with impostor syndrome.

I just thought I was nobody,” Gauff said. “The whole flag bearer thing is still mind-blowing to me. Like, ’Why am I up there?’”

As she wandered around the athlete’s village, Gauff often was stopped by other Olympians hoping they could pose with her for a photo.

I’m like, ‘Can I get a selfie with you, too?’ I just wasn’t really expecting this,” the Floridian said. “Maybe I just don’t get it.”

When she was asked less than a month ago for her thoughts on the U.S. Open and its importance to her still-nascent career, Gauff replied: “It hasn’t been on my mind.”