PARIS (AP) — Following Pope Leo XIV’s election last year, his passion for tennis gained attention when he met with top-ranked player Jannik Sinner during a papal audience.
Since then, Leo has made weekly tennis sessions a priority in his packed schedule, incorporating the sport into his Augustinian approach that combines physical fitness with spiritual growth.
The ancient Rule of St. Augustine, which serves as a guide for religious living, emphasizes the importance of establishing positive habits.
“He’s working to maintain consistency in his routine that stems from the Rule,” explained the Rev. Rob Hagan, Prior of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova and team chaplain for the men’s basketball and football teams at Villanova University — the pope’s alma mater in Pennsylvania.
Leo’s commitment to St. Augustine became clear during his April journey to Africa, when he made a pilgrimage to the archaeological ruins in Algeria where the influential 5th century theologian and philosopher spent his final days and penned some of Western thought’s most significant works.
The pope “emphasizes a very underappreciated Augustinian value — especially in this noisy world — and that is to develop your interior life,” Hagan said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Leo enjoys spending Mondays and Tuesdays at the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo in the hills outside Rome — where he plays tennis with his secretary, Monsignor Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga, and also enjoys swimming and horseback riding.
Prior to his papal election, then-Cardinal Robert Prevost discussed his tennis abilities in an interview with the Augustinian Order.
“I consider myself quite the amateur tennis player,” he said, in the 2023 interview after assuming leadership of 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,” he added.
Marin Cilic, the Croatian professional player and 2014 U.S. Open champion, expressed that it was “amazing to hear that Pope Leo loves tennis.
“It’s a beautiful game. You enjoy it especially when you are playing without pressure of time, without pressure of tournaments,” Cilic, who comes from the Bosnian pilgrimage town of Medjugorje, said in an interview ahead of the French Open.
Even without tournament pressure, tennis demands significant mental focus. Maintaining concentration and minimizing unforced errors remains crucial for success.
“If your opponent is going beat you, that’s fine. But don’t beat yourself — you know, the double faults, the smash into the net. The play that really had nothing to do with your opponent but had to do with you,” Hagan said. “That does take a certain mental discipline, an ability to create good habits.”
Tennis also demands full-body engagement, requiring excellent hand-eye coordination, cardiovascular endurance and stamina. Additionally, there’s a social component.
This provides ideal preparation for the 70-year-old Leo to fulfill his papal duties of leading prayer services for thousands of believers, continuous public and private greetings, and exhausting papal journeys worldwide.
In April, Leo covered more than 17,700 kilometers (about 11,000 miles) across 18 flights during an 11-day African tour.
“Just look at his schedule. Look at the pace that he is keeping,” Hagan said. “He can sing the mass parts because he has a lung capacity. Hear him because he has a certain strength in his voice. It’s something that they don’t teach you in the seminary: To be a priest, to be a spiritual or really any leader for that matter, it is a physically demanding job.”
Before his papal election, he would also exercise at the Vatican-area Omega gym two to three times weekly, with hourlong sessions focusing especially on posture and cardiovascular health, according to his personal trainer at the time. Prevost’s workouts, described as appropriate for a man in his 50s, would extend up to an hour and concentrate especially on the treadmill and exercise bike, trainer Valerio Masella told The AP last year.
Hagan observed that because of Leo, “people are discovering who St. Augustine is. People are discovering who the Augustinians are.
“And people are discovering and hopefully applying these Augustinian values. We don’t have a monopoly on these values, but certainly Augustine and now Leo are putting them up on a platform that people can see,” added Hagan, who has shared Augustinian values with Villanova teams for more than two decades — including two national championship basketball teams.
“It doesn’t mean you’re going to win every game,” he said. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to win every tennis match. But what we’re trying to be is the best version of ourselves — mind, body, soul, and spirit. St. Augustine says, ‘Do not be content with what you are if you want to become what you are not yet. For where you’ve grown pleased with yourself, there you shall remain.’”
