Italian Tennis Great Nicola Pietrangeli Passes Away at 92
The tennis champion is among a select trio of Italian men to win a major singles title.
The world of tennis says goodbye to a authentic icon: Nicola Pietrangeli, a double French Open champion, left us at ninety-two.
He carved his legacy by emerging as the initial Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his initial triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and retaining the prestigious trophy the following year.
With a remarkable 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the country's greatest ever player until the rise of current world number two and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is in mourning for an titan. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has died," announced the Italian Tennis Federation.
Alongside his pair of French Open triumphs, Pietrangeli also was the finalist in Paris in the years 1961 and 1964.
He boasts a record 164 matches played for Italy in the prestigious team competition, securing victories in 120 of them, and guided his country to its first title in 1976.
Organisers of the Italian Open, an event where he was a double winner, said: "We are profoundly saddened that we say goodbye to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
