Pope Leo XIV is a tennis player. Tsitsipas would be happy to hit some balls with him

ROME (AP) — It was fitting that when Pope Leo XIV was elected, the Italian Open tennis tournament was being played just up the road from the Vatican.

Because tennis is the sport that the first American pope likes to play.

“I consider myself quite the amateur tennis player,” Leo, the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost, said in a 2023 interview with the Augustinian Order after taking over the Vatican’s powerful Dicastery for Bishops following years as a missionary in Peru.

“Since leaving Peru I have had few occasions to practice so I am looking forward to getting back on the court,” Leo added. “Not that this new job has left me much free time for it so far.”

While the Mediterranean climate in Rome makes tennis a year-round outdoor sport and there are courts all over the capital, Leo will likely have even less time to play now that he’s the pope.

But Greek pro Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been ranked as high as No. 3, said he would be happy to hit some balls with Leo if he finds the time.

“Why not?” Tsitsipas said when asked by The Associated Press after winning his second-round match on Friday. “I feel like figures like this maybe can teach humans things. … I feel lucky that I was here when that got announced.”

Coco Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, said she nearly joined the crowds running to St. Peter's Square when she got an alert on her phone that a new pope had been elected.

“But I realized with the match the next day it's probably not smart to run like a mile sprinting,” Gauff said after winning her opening match.

“Hopefully he watches some women’s tennis," Gauff said. "I don’t know if popes go to sporting events ... but maybe he’ll come to a match in the future.”

When Leo was elected and then introduced at the Vatican on Thursday, first-round tennis matches were being played at the Foro Italico.

An image of Leo was shown on the Campo Centrale scoreboard during a changeover of Jacob Fearnley’s win over Fabio Fognini. And on the outside walls of the stadium, a jumbo screen was tuned to a news channel covering the announcement of the new pope.

Leo’s brother says the new pope is also a fan of the Chicago White Sox baseball team.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Coco Gauff of the US returns to Canada's Victoria Mboko during the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome, Friday May 9, 2025. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus serves to Anastasia Potapova of Russia during the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome, Friday May 9, 2025. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV appears at the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in action against Serbia's Dusan Lajovic during the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome, Friday May 9, 2025. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV waves to faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square shortly after his election, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP)

A screen flashes the news of new Pope Leo XIV, during the second round match between Italys' Fabio Fognini and Britain's Jacob Fearnley at the Italian Open tennis tournament, Thursday. May 8, 2025, in Rome. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Shreyas Iyer was provisionally named in India’s squad on Saturday for the home one-day international series against New Zealand starting Jan. 11.

India will host the Black Caps in a white-ball engagement — three ODIs and five T20s — in the build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Iyer returns to the international fold after sustaining a spleen injury during an ODI against Australia in Sydney last October.

His selection is subject to fitness clearance from BCCI’s medical team and he will return as India’s vice-captain for the three-match series.

Skipper Shubman Gill also returns, after he missed the ODI series against South Africa in December. He had a neck spasm in the test series earlier, and subsequently played in the T20s against the Proteas.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Verma missed out. Gaikwad had scored a maiden ODI hundred against South Africa in Visakhapatnam.

Rishabh Pant is retained as second keeper-batter behind Lokesh Rahul, who had stood in as captain against the Proteas.

Star batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had both participated in the domestic List A tournament — Vijay Hazare Trophy — and return to the international stage for the ODIs.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya is fit, but not sufficiently enough to bowl 10 overs in an ODI. Thus, he has been rested further ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup (in India and Sri Lanka) starting Feb. 7. Nitish Kumar Reddy is included in the squad.

Pacer Mohammed Siraj returns to lead the bowling lineup with Jasprit Bumrah rested again. Siraj had missed the South Africa series because of workload management.

The three ODIs will be played in Vadodara (Jan. 11), Rajkot (Jan. 14) and Indore (Jan. 18), with the five-match T20 series starting Jan. 21.

Squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

FILE - Captain of Punjab Kings Shreyas Iyer addresses a news conference on the eve of the final match of Indian Premier League at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)