Azzurri Court Icon Nicola Pietrangeli Passes Away at 92
The tennis champion is one of only three Italian men to win a major singles title.
Italian sport mourns a genuine pioneer: Nicola Pietrangeli, a double French Open champion, left us at the age of 92.
The player made history by emerging as the first Italian to capture a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his first triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and retaining the coveted trophy the following year.
With a remarkable 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was long held to be 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 icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian enrolled in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has died," confirmed the Italian Tennis Federation.
In addition to his pair of French Open triumphs, Pietrangeli also was the finalist in Paris in both 1961 and 1964.
He holds a record 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: "It is with deep sadness that we say goodbye to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
