Azzurri Court Legend Nicola Pietrangeli Has Died at 92
The tennis champion remains among a select trio of Italian men to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Italian sport says goodbye to a genuine icon: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, passed away at ninety-two.
He carved his legacy by emerging as the pioneering Italian to secure a Grand Slam singles title, earning his first triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and retaining the prestigious trophy a year later.
With a remarkable 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the country's finest player prior to the rise of current world number two and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is in mourning for an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian enrolled in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," stated the Italian Tennis Federation.
In addition to his two French Open triumphs, Pietrangeli also finished as runner-up in Paris in the years 1961 and 1964.
He holds a remarkable 164 matches played for Italy in the prestigious team competition, winning 120 of them, and led his country to its first title in 1976.
Officials of the Italian Open, an event where he was a double winner, said: "We are profoundly saddened that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
