Italy's Court Icon Nicola Pietrangeli Has Died at Ninety-Two
The tennis champion stands as one of only three Italian men to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Italian sport says goodbye to a genuine legend: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at 92.
He carved his legacy by emerging as the initial Italian to secure a Grand Slam singles title, earning his maiden triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and successfully defending the prestigious trophy a year later.
With an impressive 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the country's finest player until the rise of current star and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is in mourning for an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian enrolled in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," stated the national federation.
Alongside his pair of French Open victories, Pietrangeli also finished as runner-up in Paris in both 1961 and 1964.
He holds a remarkable 164 matches played for Italy in the prestigious team competition, winning 120 of them, and guided his country to its inaugural title in 1976.
Organisers of the Italian Open, where he was a double winner, stated: "It is with deep sadness that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a true legend of Italian tennis..."
