Vatican City: Pope Leo XIV and Jannik Sinner.
The top-ranked tennis player visited the new pope, gave him a tennis racket and presented the game on the Italian Open’s rest day.
Leo, the first pope in the United States, is an avid tennis player and fan and said earlier this week when reporters advised him to suggest him to participate in charity competitions.
But at the time, Leo joked, “We cannot invite sinners”, which is obviously a reference to the English meaning of the sinner’s surname.
By Wednesday, everything seemed to be forgotten.
“It’s an honor,” Sina said as the Italian and his parents arrived at the reception room in the Vatican Auditorium. The three-time Grand Slam champion took his racket and gave Leo another ball, and gave Leo a ball, and came up with a quick volleyball. But the Pope looked around and said, “It’s better not.”
Leo is a 69-year-old Leo from Chicago and then seems to joke about his white cassava and its appropriateness to Wimbledon, perhaps a reference to the all-white clothing rules of the all-England club.
He asked how the Italian Open was. “I’m playing now,” Sina said. “It was a little difficult at the start of the game.”
Sinner played the quarter-finals in the first game Thursday after a three-month ban was considered accidental pollution.
Next, he will face freshly crowned Madrid champion Casper Ruud. Sinner tried to become the first Italian to win the Rome title since Adriano Panatta in 1976.
During the audience, Angelo Binaghi, head of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, gave Leo a Honorary Federation card.
“We all feel that Leo XIV is passionate about our sport, which makes us proud,” Binaghi said in a statement. “We hope to embrace the Holy Father again soon, maybe on the tennis court.”
The Pope and the Sinner pose for photos before the Davis Cup trophy, and Sinner helped Italy win for the second time last year. Also on display in the room is the Billie Jean King Cup trophy that Italy won in 2024, the largest women’s team competition in tennis.
Earlier this week, after Leo didn’t want to invite him for the first time, Sina said the new pope loves to play in the sport, which is a good thing for our tennis players.
In addition to tennis, Leo is also an avid Chicago white socks baseball fan.
His former Pope Francis is a lifelong fan of Buenos Aires football club San Lorenzo.
