Italy's Court Great Nicola Pietrangeli Passes Away at Ninety-Two
Nicola Pietrangeli is among a select trio of Italian men to win a major singles title.
Italian sport mourns a genuine icon: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at 92.
He carved his legacy by emerging as the first Italian to secure a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his first triumph at the French Open in 1959 and retaining the coveted trophy the following year.
With a staggering 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the country's greatest ever player prior to the rise of current star and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is in mourning for an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian enrolled in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has died," confirmed the national federation.
Alongside his two French Open successes, 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 led his country to its first 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 true legend of Italian tennis..."