Italian Court Icon Nicola Pietrangeli Dies at 92
The tennis champion stands as among a select trio of Italian men to secure a major singles title.
Italian sport says goodbye to a genuine legend: Nicola Pietrangeli, a double French Open champion, left us at 92.
The player made history by becoming the first Italian to capture a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his first triumph at the French Open in 1959 and successfully defending the coveted trophy in 1960.
With an impressive 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was widely considered the country's greatest ever player prior to the rise of current world number two and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is in mourning for an legend. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian enrolled in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," announced the national federation.
Beyond his pair of French Open triumphs, Pietrangeli also was the finalist 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 led his country to its inaugural title in 1976.
Organisers of the Italian Open, an event where he was a double winner, stated: "We are profoundly saddened that we say goodbye to Nicola Pietrangeli, a true legend of Italian tennis..."
