Pope Leo XIV, who is reportedly an avid tennis player, received Italian tennis champion Jannik Sinner at the Vatican for an audience May 14.
The 23-year-old athlete presented Pope Leo with a tennis racket, a video of the audience posted by Vatican News showed.
Though the dialogue is in Italian, Vatican News reported that Sinner offered the pope a tennis ball as well and asked him if he wanted to play. Gesturing to the room, located in the Paul VI Hall, Pope Leo laughed and reportedly said, “Here we’ll break something. Best not to!”
Vatican News reported that the audience included Sinner’s family and the president of the Italian Tennis Federation. Sinner is currently in Rome to compete in the 2025 Italian Open, an 11-day tennis tournament. Top tennis players from across the world are also competing in the tournament.
Reuters reported that Pope Leo revealed his love for tennis in a 2023 interview with his own Order of St. Augustine, saying that he considers himself “quite the amateur tennis player.”
Reuters also reported that Sinner said at a May 12 press conference that he had heard Pope Leo is a tennis player, adding “I think it’s a good thing for us tennis players to have a pope who likes this sport that we’re playing.”
Pope Leo will be officially installed as the Bishop of Rome May 18.