Italy's Tennis Great Nicola Pietrangeli Passes Away at Ninety-Two
The tennis champion remains among a select trio of Italian men to claim a major singles title.
Italian sport says goodbye to a authentic legend: Nicola Pietrangeli, a double French Open champion, left us at ninety-two.
The player made history by emerging as the pioneering Italian to capture a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his maiden triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and successfully defending the prestigious trophy the following year.
With an impressive 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the country's greatest ever player until the emergence of current world number two and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is grieving an titan. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian honored in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has died," confirmed the Italian Tennis Federation.
Alongside his pair of French Open successes, Pietrangeli also reached the final in Paris in the years 1961 and 1964.
He set a record 164 matches played for Italy in the Davis Cup, securing victories in 120 of them, and guided his country to its first title in 1976.
Officials of the Italian Open, an event where he was a two-time winner, commented: "We are profoundly saddened that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
