So what's all the fuss about, really?

Gauff is back in New York to defend Grand Slam, still trying to get her head around being a star

- HOWARD FENDRICH

Coco Gauff won the U.S. Open a year ago for her first major tennis trophy, becoming the first American teen to do so since Serena Williams in 1999.

Yes, Coco Gauff is a Grand Slam champion. She has been ranked No. 1 in doubles and No. 2 in singles. She is already a big star who transcends her sport: She was a flag-bearer alongside LeBron James at the Paris Olympics, she has a signature shoe and she 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 sounds like someone who deals with impostor syndrome.

Put simply: She does not quite understand what all the fuss is about.

“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?’ ”

Gauff was popular among other athletes at the Paris Olympics. She was often stopped around the athletes village by other Olympians hoping they could pose with her for a photo.