Italian Tennis Great Nicola Pietrangeli Dies at Ninety-Two
Nicola Pietrangeli stands as among a select trio of Italian men to win a major singles title.
Italian sport mourns a authentic icon: Nicola Pietrangeli, a double French Open champion, left us at the age of 92.
The player made history by becoming the pioneering Italian to capture a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his first triumph at the French Open in 1959 and successfully defending the coveted trophy the following year.
With a staggering 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the nation's greatest ever player prior to the emergence of current star and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is mourning an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian inducted in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has died," confirmed the national federation.
Alongside his pair of French Open successes, Pietrangeli also reached the final in Paris in both 1961 and 1964.
He boasts a remarkable 164 matches played for Italy in the Davis Cup, winning 120 of them, and led his country to its first title in 1976.
Officials of the Italian Open, where he was a double winner, stated: "We are profoundly saddened that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
