Italian Tennis Great Nicola Pietrangeli Passes Away at 92
Nicola Pietrangeli remains among a select trio of Italian men to claim a major singles title.
Italian sport says goodbye to a genuine pioneer: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at ninety-two.
The player made history by emerging as the pioneering Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, earning his first triumph at the French Open in 1959 and successfully defending the coveted trophy the following year.
With an impressive 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the nation's greatest ever player until the emergence of current star and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is in mourning for an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian enrolled in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has died," announced the national federation.
In addition to his pair of French Open triumphs, Pietrangeli also was the finalist in Paris in both 1961 and 1964.
He boasts a record 164 matches played for Italy in the Davis Cup, winning 120 of them, and led his country to its maiden title in 1976.
Officials of the Italian Open, an event where he was a double winner, commented: "It is with deep sadness that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
