Jannik Sinner’s comeback win over Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final last weekend enraptured Italy. And there are few surer signs than Pope Francis commenting on the national triumph. “Today we have to congratulate the Italians because yesterday they won in Australia, so we congratulate them, too,” the pontiff told a crowd in Spain on Monday. 

Sinner’s Grand Slam win was the first for Italy in nearly half a century, since Adriano Panatta won at Roland Garros in 1976. In the same year, Italy won the Davis Cup. History has almost repeated itself. Italy lifted the Davis Cup in Malaga two months ago, when 22-year-olds Sinner and Matteo Arnaldi beat Alexei Popyrin and Alex de Minaur of Australia, pointing to a promising future ahead.