Azzurri Court Icon Nicola Pietrangeli Dies at the Age of 92
The tennis champion remains one of only three Italian men to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Italian sport mourns a genuine icon: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at the age of 92.
Pietrangeli etched his name by becoming the pioneering Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his initial triumph at the French Open in 1959 and retaining the prestigious trophy in 1960.
With an impressive 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was long held to be the country's finest player until the rise of current world number two and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is grieving an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian honored in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," stated the Italian Tennis Federation.
In addition to his pair of French Open successes, Pietrangeli also finished as runner-up 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 guided his country to its inaugural title in 1976.
Organisers of the Italian Open, an event where he was a double winner, commented: "We are profoundly saddened that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
