A lucky fan found herself right next to the Italian while he was at security.
While she was passing airport security in Dubai, a tennis fan found herself with Jannik Sinner near her. Yes, the same Sinner that came back from 2-0 in the final act of the first Grand Slam of the year against Daniil Medvedev.
The best part was that the Italian was holding his recently won Australian Open trophy in his carry-on bag. The fan posted a picture she took of Sinner on her X account. “Things that weren’t on my 2024 bingo card: meeting Jannik Sinner in Dubai airport security as we both sorted out our hand luggage.
His carry-on bag being the actual Australian Open trophy (!) made the electronics and liquids in my tray look very unimpressive,” Katie Bevan captioned her post.
And if bumping into the fresh Melbourne champion wasn’t enough, the fan had a “quick chat with him about the final” and took a photo together.
Some tennis fans asked themselves on X how comes that Sinner met with regular travelers at the airport security.
A fan answered the dilemma, implying that when transferring from one flight to another everyone goes through the same security, whether economy class or higher. “Novak Djokovic was on my flight back from AO in 2012 so I had a similar experience in the queue.
Except he wasn’t carrying the trophy so obviously,” said the fan. As for why Jannik Sinner was in Dubai, he most likely stopped there because there was no direct flight from Australia to Italy.
All in all, it can be stunning to see tennis champions like Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner passing through airport security just like all of us with their precious trophies.
Airports can be fun places for tennis players
While Jannik Sinner had a surprise interaction at the Dubai airport, his ATP tour colleague Rafael Nadal showed that airports can be relaxing places for tennis players. Back in 2022, Rafa Nadal and Casper Ruud played soccer at 2 am while they were waiting at the Brazilian Belo Horizonte airport.
“Pre check-in at the airport in Belo Horizonte,” Nadal captioned the video above.
Talking about Nadal and airports, did you know a petition was launched at the beginning of 2022 to rename the Palma de Mallorca airport to Rafa Nadal? Read more: An airport for Rafael Nadal in Palma de Mallorca? Besides Nadal, another legendary player who shared funny airport moments is Andy Murray.
In a past interview, the Scottish player confessed his metal hip made the security alarm go off twice. “I have taken two flights since the operation. It went off both times”, said Murray. “I didn’t actually think about it before because I don’t really remember that it’s in there now.”
The dark side of airports for tennis players: visas
Although airports can be fun, some of them can impede players from getting where they want.
Novak Djokovic was detained at the Melbourne airport when he had his visa problems. Per Novak’s father, Srdjan, Djokovic was isolated in a room guarded by policemen.
Also, Russian player Vitalia Diatchenko ran into passport problems in 2023 before an ITF event in Calvi, France.
She had to miss the tournament because of her passport. “Finally, I have to withdraw and the only option is to return home and miss another event because of this situation. As a professional athlete who is playing without any flag and not representing any country, just trying to get on with life and follow a career that I have loved all my life, is this fair to athletes that have no association with any part of the unfortunate situation,” Diatchenko said besides explaining her issue.