Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images
Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost, was announced Thursday in the Vatican.
By ATP Staff
As the world's best tennis players smoked forehands and backhands at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Thursday, the white smoke emerging from the Vatican's Sistine Chapel signalled the election of a new pope in Rome.
Some two miles from the ATP Masters 1000 action at the Foro Italico, Pope Leo XIV was announced to the world as play continued in the Italian capital. It was fitting timing for the first American pope, Robert Prevost, who said in a recent interview: "I consider myself quite the amateur tennis player."
During home favourite Fabio Fognini's match against Jacob Fearnley, news of the announcement was shared on the big screen on Rome's centre court. An image of the new pope was greeted with warm cheers.
The new Pope is announced 👏 #IBI25 pic.twitter.com/PACzISuTba
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 8, 2025
The first-round match ended in a 6-2, 6-3 victory for Great Britain's Fearnley, spelling the end of Fognini's farewell appearance in Rome.
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