Italian Tennis Legend Nicola Pietrangeli Dies at 92
The tennis champion remains one of only three Italian men to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Italian sport is mourning a authentic icon: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at the age of 92.
The player made history by becoming the pioneering Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his initial triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and retaining the coveted trophy a year later.
With a staggering 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the nation's greatest ever player until the advent of current world number two and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is mourning an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian enrolled in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," confirmed the national federation.
Alongside his two French Open triumphs, Pietrangeli also was the finalist 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 spearheaded his country to its maiden title in 1976.
Organisers of the Italian Open, an event where he was a two-time winner, said: "It is with deep sadness that we say goodbye to Nicola Pietrangeli, a true legend of Italian tennis..."
