Italian Tennis Great Nicola Pietrangeli Has Died at the Age of 92
The tennis champion is one of only three Italian men to claim a Grand Slam singles title.
Italian sport says goodbye to a authentic pioneer: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, has died at ninety-two.
The player made history by emerging as the initial Italian to capture a Grand Slam singles title, earning his initial triumph at the French Open in 1959 and successfully defending the coveted trophy the following year.
With a remarkable 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was long held to be the nation's greatest ever player prior to the advent of current star and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is in mourning for an legend. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian inducted in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has died," announced the national federation.
Alongside his two French Open victories, Pietrangeli also finished as runner-up in Paris in both 1961 and 1964.
He boasts a record 164 matches played for Italy in the Davis Cup, securing victories in 120 of them, and led his country to its inaugural title in 1976.
Organisers of the Italian Open, where he was a two-time winner, stated: "We are profoundly saddened that we say goodbye to Nicola Pietrangeli, a true legend of Italian tennis..."
