Tennis Lover Pope Leo Meets With Ironically Named Top-Ranked Player Jannik Sinner

Pope Leo XIV has probably met more than a few sinners in his day, but none were the best tennis player on the planet.

The new, American-born pontiff is known to be a sports fan. He's a Chicago White Sox fan and a Villanova graduate, but he's also a big tennis player.

So, it's only fitting that one of the first big names to visit the new Pope in Vatican City is the ironically-named top-ranked tennis player on the planet, Jannik Sinner.

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According to the Associated Press, earlier in the week, Pope Leo was asked about doing a charity tennis match, something he said he was open to, but joked that "we can’t invite Sinner."

Oddly enough, Sinner had a day off during the Italian Open on Wednesday and swung by the Vatican to meet with the Pope, along with his family and Alberto Binaghi, the President of the Italian Tennis Federation.

The Italian-born Sinner conversed with Pope Leo in Italian, giving the leader of the Catholic Church a racket similar to the one he uses, though he noted that the "color is a little different."

The Pope then joked that he could play at Wimbledon given the all-white papal clothing he's wearing these days and the historic all-white clothing rule in place for one of the sport's biggest tournaments.

Sinner then pulled out a tennis ball and asked Pope Leo if he'd like to get in a quick volley.

"Here's a ball if you want to play," Sinner said.

Pope Leo looked at all the expensive, fragile bits and pieces of Vatican decor.

"We'll break something," he said with a laugh. "Better not!"

After that, they posed for pictures, with Sinner thanking the Pope for the meeting, calling it a "great pleasure."

That was a cool meeting, and hopefully they can get Pope Leo out on a court for a charity match. He'll have no issue inviting Sinner.