Airport Photo of Australian Open Champion Jannik Sinner With Trophy Is Unexpectedly Relatable

Fans were definitely surprised to see how the 22-year-old was taking his precious cargo home to Italy.

Australian Open winners are just like us–at the airport, anyway.

The 2024 champion Jannik Sinner was seen leaving Australia on Tuesday holding a bag that contained the Australian Open trophy, also known as the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup. A fan snapped a photo of him at the Dubai airport with his tennis bag on his back, while he was holding the trophy bag.

Katie Bevan, who posted the picture of Sinner on X (formerly known as Twitter), said that the bag containing the trophy was actually the tennis star’s carry-on bag. That means the Italian had to put the bag in one of the airport security trays when going through the security line.

Sinner likely held on tightly to that bag as it was holding what is likely his most prized possession.

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 💔 pic.twitter.com/cmpXTfQ7HJ

— Katie Bevan (@katiebevano) January 30, 2024

Sinner beat Daniil Medvedev in a five-set thriller on Sunday, winning 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. 

This was the 22-year-old’s first Grand Slam title. He also became the first men’s tennis player outside of the big three—Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer—to win the Australian Open since 2014.