Azzurri Tennis Icon Nicola Pietrangeli Dies at Ninety-Two
The tennis champion is one of only three Italian men to secure a major singles title.
Italian sport mourns a genuine icon: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at 92.
Pietrangeli etched his name by emerging as the initial Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, earning his initial triumph at the French Open in 1959 and successfully defending the coveted trophy the following year.
With a staggering 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the nation's finest player until the rise of current world number two and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is grieving an legend. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," confirmed the Italian Tennis Federation.
Beyond his pair of French Open triumphs, 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, securing victories in 120 of them, and guided his country to its first title in 1976.
Organisers of the Italian Open, where he was a two-time winner, stated: "We are profoundly saddened that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
