Peace with the Sinners: Pope Lion Fourteen meets No. 1, gets a racket at the Italian Open
Vatican City – Pope Leo XIV is peaceful with Jannik Sinner.
The top-ranked tennis player visited the new pope on Wednesday, gave him a tennis racket and was willing to take a break from Sinner of the Italian Open.
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.
At the time, Leo joked, “But we can’t invite Sina,” which clearly refers 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 sinner held a racket and gave Leo another ball and a ball, suggesting a quick volley. But the Pope looked at the antiques around him and said, “It’s better not.”
Leo, a 69-year-old from Chicago, then joked about his white cassava and its appropriateness to Wimbledon, pointing out the all-white clothing rules for clubs in England.
He asked about the status of the Italian Open: “Now I’m in the game,” Sina said. “It was a little difficult at the start of the game.”
The highest-ranked player played the quarter-finals in the first game Thursday after a three-month ban was considered accidental pollution.
Sina will next face freshly crowned Madrid champions Casper Ruud or Jaume Munar. 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. In the hand of the room was the Davis Cup, and Sinner helped Italy win for the second time last year.
Earlier this week, after Leo didn’t want to invite him for the first time, Sina said the new pope loves to play the sport is “a good thing for us 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.
