Vatican City (AP) – Pope Leo XIV made peace with Jannik Sinner.
The best classified tennis player visited the new pope on Wednesday, gave him a tennis racket and offered to play, for a day off for the sinner at the Italian Open.
Leo, the first American pope, is a tennis enthusiast and a fan and declared earlier this week that he would be ready for a charity match when he was suggested by a journalist.
But at the time, Leo joked “we cannot invite the sinner”, an apparent reference to the English meaning of the surname of Sinner.
On Wednesday, everything seemed forgotten.
“It is an honor,” said Sinner in Italian while he and his parents arrived in a reception hall of the Vatican auditorium. Holding one of his snowshoes and giving Leo another and a bullet, the triple champion of the Grand Slam suggested a quick volley. But the Pope looked around and said, “Better not.”
Leo, a 69 year old man from Chicago, then seemed to be joking about his white cassock and his relevance for Wimbledon, perhaps a reference to the fully white clothing rule of Club All England.
He asked how the Italian Open was going. “Now I’m in the match,” said Sinner. “At the start of the tournament, it was a bit difficult.”
Sinner has a quarter -final match Thursday in his first tournament after a Three -month ban For doping that has been judged as accidental contamination.
He will then face the Madrid champion freshly crowned Casper Ruud. Sinner tries to become the first Italian to win the title of Rome since Adriano Panatta in 1976.
During the public, Angelo Binaghi, the head of the Italian tennis and the Padel Federation, gave Leo an honorary federation card.
“We all felt the passion that Leo XIV has for our sport and that has filled us with pride,” Binaghi said in a statement. “We hope to kiss the Holy Father again soon, perhaps on a tennis court.”
The pope and the sinner posed for photos in front of the Davis Cup trophy that the sinner helped Italy win for the second consecutive period last year. The Billie Jean King Cup trophy was also exhibited in the room, the largest women’s tennis team event.
Earlier in the week, after Leo’s first joke to not want to invite him, Sinner said it was “a good thing for us tennis players” that The new pope likes to play sport.
In addition to tennis, Leo is passionate about Chicago White Sox baseball baseball.
His predecessor, Pope Francis, was a fan of Buenos Aires Soccer Club San Lorenzo.
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Dampf reported in Rome.
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