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)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ahn Sung-ki, one of South Korean cinema’s biggest stars whose prolific 60-year career and positive, gentle public image earned him the nickname “The Nation’s Actor,” died Monday. He was 74.

Ahn, who had suffered blood cancer for years, was pronounced dead at Seoul's Soonchunhyang University Hospital, his agency, the Artist Company, and hospital officials said.

“We feel deep sorrow at the sudden, sad news, pray for the eternal rest of the deceased and offer our heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family members," the Artist Company said in a statement.

President Lee Jae Myung issued a condolence message saying Ahn provided many people with comfort, joy and time for reflection. “I already miss his warm smile and gentle voice,” Lee wrote on Facebook.

Born to a filmmaker in the southeastern city of Daegu in 1952, Ahn made his debut as a child actor in the movie “The Twilight Train” in 1957. He subsequently appeared in about 70 movies as a child actor before he left the film industry to live an ordinary life.

In 1970, Ahn entered Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies as a Vietnamese major. Ahn said he graduated with top honors but failed to land jobs at big companies, who likely saw his Vietnamese major largely useless after a communist victory in the Vietnam War in 1975.

Ahn returned to the film industry in 1977 believing he could still excel in acting. In 1980, he rose to fame for his lead role in Lee Jang-ho’s “Good, Windy Days,” a hit coming-of-age movie about the struggle of working-class men from rural areas during the country’s rapid rise. Ahn won the best new actor award in the prestigious Grand Bell Awards, the Korean version of the Academy Awards.

He later starred in a series of highly successful and critically acclaimed movies, sweeping best actor awards and becoming arguably the country’s most popular actor in much of the 1980-90s.

Some of his memorable roles included a Buddhist monk in 1981’s “Mandara,” a beggar in 1984’s “Whale Hunting,” a Vietnam War veteran-turned-novelist in 1992’s “White Badge,” a corrupt police officer in 1993’s “Two Cops,” a murderer in 1999’s “No Where To Hide,” a special forces trainer in 2003’s “Silmido” and a devoted celebrity manager in 2006’s “Radio Star.”

Ahn had collected dozens of trophies in major movie awards in South Korea, including winning the Grand Bell Awards for best actor five times, an achievement no other South Korean actors have matched yet.

Ahn built up an image as a humble, trustworthy and family-oriented celebrity who avoided major scandals and maintained a quiet, stable personal life. Past public surveys chose Ahn as South Korea’s most beloved actor and deserving of the nickname “The Nation’s Actor.”

Ahn said he earlier felt confined with his “The Nation's Actor” labeling but eventually thought that led him down the right path. In recent years, local media has given other stars similar honorable nicknames, but Ahn was apparently the first South Korean actor who was dubbed “The Nation's Actor.”

“I felt I should do something that could match that title. But I think that has eventually guided me on a good direction,” Ahn said in an interview with Yonhap news agency in 2023.

In media interviews, Ahn couldn’t choose what his favorite movie was, but said that his role as a dedicated, hardworking manger for a washed-up rock singer played by Park Jung-hoon resembled himself in real life the most.

Ahn was also known for his reluctance to do love scenes. He said said he was too shy to act romantic scenes and sometimes asked directors to skip steamy scenes if they were only meant to add spice to movies.

“I don’t do well on acting like looking at someone who I don’t love with loving eyes and kissing really romantically. I feel shy and can’t express such emotions well,” Ahn said in an interview with the Shindonga magazine in 2007. “Simply, I’m clumsy on that. So I couldn’t star in such movies a lot. But ultimately, that was a right choice for me.”

Ahn is survived by his wife and their two sons. A mourning station at a Seoul hospital was to run until Friday.

FILE - South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki smiles for a photo on the red carpet at the 56th Daejong Film Awards ceremony in Seoul, South Korea, June 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki attends an event as part of the 11th Pusan International Film Festival in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 13, 2006. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)