World No. 1 Jannik Sinner Meets Pope Leo XIV in New Video

On the heels of having his MLB fandom confirmed last week, Pope Leo XIV's sports credentials keep getting stronger after a meeting with the best men's tennis player in the world.

With the ATP Tour in Rome for the Italian Open, Jannik Sinner met with the new Pope and delivered him a tennis racket.

Per Deborah Castellano Lubov of Vatican News, Sinner's family and Italian Tennis Federation president Alberto Binaghi were among those in attendance.

Sinner also presented Pope Leo with a tennis ball and asked if he wanted to play. Pope Leo politely declined by saying it's "best not to" because they would break something in the room.

Nicole Winfield and Andrew Dampf of the Associated Press noted Pope Leo did make a joke about how his white cassock was appropriate attire for Wimbledon given its strict dress code.

"We all felt the passion that Leo XIV has for our sport and this filled us with pride," Binaghi said in a statement about the visit (h/t Winfield and Dampf). "We hope to embrace the Holy Father again soon, maybe on a tennis court."

Sinner was able to make the trip to the Vatican on a scheduled off day. He advanced to the quarterfinals of the Italian Open with a victory over Francisco Cerundolo on Tuesday.

Even though the Pope did get off a joke earlier in the week about inviting someone with the last name of Sinner to the Vatican, things seemed to be okay between the two men during their interaction.

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