Jannik Sinner meets Pope Leo XIV© AFP
The Vatican said the Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner on Wednesday made a audience an audience with a wonderful tennis player with a newly chosen Pope Leo XIV. The sinner was invited to the Vatican with a delegation of his parents and a delegation of the Italian Tennis Federation. Leo joked earlier this week that he did not want to meet world number one, at least not behind the net. When asked by a journalist whether he would participate in a charity match, Leo appeared for it, but warned: “Just don’t bring the sinner,” making a Catholic punishment about the last name of the tennis star.
Sinner presented the Pope with one of his tennis rackets, but Pontiff rejected a suggestion that they knock a ball around, which stare at the lights in the reception room. “Not better,” he said, for laughter.
The Pope, earlier known as the US Cardinal Robert Prevost, described himself as a “quite amateur tennis player” in an interview of 2023 published by its Augustinian religious order website.
The Sinner is participating in the Italian Open Tennis tournament, which is being staged a short distance from the Vatican, returning from a three -month doping ban.
When asked about the Pope’s comments during a news conference on Monday, he blushed and buried his head in his hands.
“Why do you have to keep me in a difficult place?” He said, before adding: “Obviously I have heard that he has played as a child. I think it’s a good thing for us that tennis players have a pope that likes the game we are playing.”
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