Azzurri Tennis Legend Nicola Pietrangeli Has Died at 92
The tennis champion stands as one of only three Italian men to secure a major singles title.
Italian sport says goodbye to a genuine icon: Nicola Pietrangeli, a double French Open champion, left us at ninety-two.
He carved his legacy by becoming the initial Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, earning his maiden triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and successfully defending the prestigious trophy in 1960.
With a remarkable 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the nation's greatest ever player until the advent of current world number two and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is grieving an titan. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian inducted in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," announced the Italian Tennis Federation.
Alongside his pair of French Open victories, Pietrangeli also was the finalist in Paris in both 1961 and 1964.
He set a record 164 matches played for Italy in the prestigious team competition, winning 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..."
