The Aussie tennis star who unwittingly became part of papal history
Just when you (and we) thought every last drip had been wrung out of the papal conclave and the election of Pope Leo XIV, there is more.
CBD has learnt a previously undisclosed prominent Aussie was there on the scene.
Tennis star Rinky Hijikata was on a day off from the Italian Open and had just finished a museum tour in Rome when he was swept up in the tide of history.
'I thought I'd go check out St Peter's Basilica. As I was walking there, a bunch of people around me just started sprinting towards the Basilica,' the Australian Open men's doubles champion told CBD.
Hijikata, who has reached No.63 in the men's rankings, found out from onlookers that the white smoke had just gone up and that the new pope was about to be announced – so he joined the thronging masses.
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'Just some pretty good timing and a bit of luck to be fortunate enough to be a part of something like that,' he concluded.
In other puff-of-white-smoke news, Tennis Australia announced that Chris Harrop, a 'lifelong tennis fan and social player … (and) advisory partner for global strategy consulting firm Bain & Company' would replace ex-Virgin boss Jayne Hrdlicka as chair of Tennis Australia.
Hrdlicka's departure was something that CBD foretold back in October, when TA confirmed to us that her third term on the board would expire at the end of this year.
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