Jannik Sinner is taking the Australian Open Trophy with him wherever he goes. And we mean everywhere.
The newly crowned king of Melbourne Park was on Tuesday spotted casually travelling with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup after his epic win over Daniil Medvedev in the men’s final on Sunday.
The Italian star was connecting flights in Dubai when he was spotted putting the prized trophy through an airport security scanner before tossing the silverware in his carry-on luggage.
A photo of Sinner casually carrying the Trophy around like a bag of excess clothes has had plenty of fans chortling.
Katie Bevano witnessed the scene and a photo she shared on Twitter has gone viral with more than 700,000 views.
“Things that weren’t on my 2024 bingo card: meeting Jannik Sinner in Dubai Airport security as we both sorted out our hand luggage,” she posted.
“His carry-on bag being the actual Australian Open trophy (!) made the electronics and liquids in my tray look very unimpressive.”
Tennis commentator Scott Barclay wrote on Twitter: “Jannik Sinner casually carrying around the Australian Open trophy like you or I would carry around our laundry bag is top tier badassery”.
The 22-year-old has paraded the trophy at several official functions in recent days, including the traditional photoshoot in Melbourne the day following the men’s final.
Sinner’s act of treating the trophy like a has warmed the hearts of some, but there has also been some backlash to the photo.
It is a similar situation to the one Australian cricketer Mitchell March faced following Australia’s victory in the World Cup final over India.
Marsh was criticised by angry fans after he casually posed with his feet resting on top of the ODI World Cup trophy.
Marsh at the time was told to “have some respect”.
Meanwhile, having broken through to win his first grand slam, Sinner received a hero’s welcome as he landed down in Italy and was greeted by Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
His decision to return home came at the expense of playing the ATP 250 event in Marseille.
The initial announcement of his withdrawal caused a stir at the Open 13 Provence event, with the tournament’s official account on X throwing claiming Sinner had snubbed the event.
Sinner is now preparing to continue his impressive 2024 season in Rotterdam in a couple of weeks, where he may face off against Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev again.
They are poised to be the top two seeds if they both participate.