The Election of Pope Leo XIV Made News On Italian Open’s Centre Court

When home favorite Fabio Fognini trailed 5-2 in his swansong at the Italian Open on Thursday, there was an announcement of far more global proportions. The big screen at the Campo Centrale court boomed out the news that Robert Prevost had become the new Pope to cheers from the crowd. Prevost, the first American elected to the papacy, took the name Leo XIV. As an avid player of the sport, he couldn’t have timed his entrance any better.

Fognini is a 37-year-old veteran of the ATP Tour and received a wildcard to the Masters 1000 event in Rome. Just before his match with Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley, white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel to signal the changing of the guard at the Vatican.

During the warm-up, Fognini asked the umpire if the new Pope was announced as crowds gathered outside the stadium to watch the images in St. Peter’s Square. Although he lost 6-2, 6-3 to Fearnley, the match will linger like the white smoke which signified the beginning of the end of an 18-year tennis journey. “If I look back, I have really good memories, but it’s a page that’s finished. I am almost 38, I have a beautiful family. Now it’s time to give them all my support, and it’s time for the babies.” The former world No. 7 will retire at some point in 2025.

The Papal Conclave has caught the attention of some of the world’s best players in Italy’s capital. As over 130 cardinals prepared to vote on Pope Francis’s successor, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek were aware of the historical significance of the moment. “I’m not Catholic. I would go because I feel like it’s an historic thing,” said the American. “I learned a lot, because I don’t know anything about the Catholic religion. With the whole smoke thing, I thought that was cool. I would like to go and see it and be around it since we’re here,” continued Gauff who has often spoken about her Christian faith.

Swiatek was also keen to be there when the moment happened, but was aware that Papal decisions could take as long as Grand Slam tournaments. “I would love to [go] just to have the experience. But I’ll see logistically how it’s going to look like. Also, we don’t know when it’s going to happen, right?” That part has been answered as Swiatek swept aside Elisabetta Cocciaretto for the loss of just one game.

Over the years, tennis has connected with the Vatican in person as well as spiritually. In January, the late Pope Francis talked movingly about the universality of the game during a visit to the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, which was celebrating its 125^th anniversary. “In tennis, as in life, we can’t always win. But it’s an enriching challenge if it is played in an educated manner according to the rules. Sports are not just about competing but also relations. And in the case of tennis, it’s a dialogue that often becomes artistic.”

One of its greatest artists is Roger Federer, a man whose grace and movement has been almost as mesmerizing to a wide audience. A Catholic, Federer has also touched upon the importance of humility and losing with dignity. In 2006, the Swiss met with Pope Benedict XVI before winning his match at the Rome Masters. Novak Djokovic had a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2023, signing a racket for the Argentinian who passed away last month at the age of 88. Djokovic once employed Wojtek Fibak, the man who taught Pope John Paul II to play tennis, in his backroom staff. The first non-Italian Pope in 450 years, the Pole spoke about tennis as an instrument of humanism and solidarity.

His Holiness, Leo XIV, is also a self-proclaimed tennis player, carrying on the tradition of several Popes who have embraced and played sport. “I consider myself quite the amateur tennis player,” he said in an interview with the Augustinian Order back in 2023. Perhaps there will be some free time to test his skills on the Vatican’s clay court.

His predecessor was very much a man who was adamant that tennis should not lose its amateur spirit. “Competitiveness is good if it doesn’t eliminate this playful component. We must never lose amateurism, when sport is done for other interests, it is lost. It loses its beauty, this symphonic dimension, it becomes commerce. Tennis and padel are always amateur, don’t lose that dimension,” Pope Francis told the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican in 2023.

The Italian Open used to be a prestigious amateur event up until 1969, when it became accessible to professionals as the tennis world changed dramatically. Its 82nd edition was supposed to be all about the return of world No. 1 Jannik Sinner after a three-month doping ban.

While Sinner’s entrance was welcomed by fans and the media, the opening week at Foro Italico has taken a back seat to the adulation and excitement of the new man at the top of the Catholic Church.