Azzurri Tennis Legend Nicola Pietrangeli Has Died at Ninety-Two
The tennis champion stands as among a select trio of Italian men to claim a major singles title.
Italian sport says goodbye to a genuine icon: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at ninety-two.
The player made history by emerging as the first Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, earning his initial triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and retaining the prestigious trophy in 1960.
With a staggering 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was long held to be the country's most accomplished player until the rise of current world number two and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is mourning an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian honored in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," stated the Italian Tennis Federation.
Alongside his two French Open triumphs, Pietrangeli also finished as runner-up in Paris in the years 1961 and 1964.
He holds a record 164 matches played for Italy in the prestigious team competition, 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 bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
