It was 2015 when, for the first time, the Holy Father met Italian tennis. This morning, the representatives of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation were welcomed in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican for the general audience of Pope Francis which, in fact, officially opened the 2023 International Symposium on the eve of the start of the 80th edition of the Bnl d'Italia internationals at the Foro Italico.
Over 6 thousand people present who, after the introduction by Max Giusti, the interventions of Sandro Giacobbo and Francesco Giorgino and the greetings of well-known international coaches such as Toni Nadal, Emilio Sanchez, Miguel Sciorilli and Riccardo Piatti), welcomed with a long applause the entrance of the Holy Father.
On the occasion, the president of Fitp Angelo Binaghi, who in 2015 had honored the Pope with a white tennis racket, this time gave him a padel racket, saying: “Allow me to give you a small gift. As an Argentine, you know that padel is only played in pairs, and therefore you will understand very well that giving you this gift means for us to fuel the dream that you will be able to exploit it one day, making one of our boys happy".

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