Azzurri Court Great Nicola Pietrangeli Passes Away at 92
Nicola Pietrangeli is one of only three Italian men to win a major singles title.
Italian sport is mourning a genuine legend: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at ninety-two.
Pietrangeli etched his name by emerging as the pioneering Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his initial triumph at the French Open in 1959 and retaining the prestigious trophy the following year.
With a staggering 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was long held to be the country's greatest ever player prior to the emergence of current star and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is grieving an titan. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian enrolled in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," confirmed the national federation.
Alongside his pair of French Open successes, Pietrangeli also reached the final in Paris in the years 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 first title in 1976.
Officials of the Italian Open, an event where he was a double winner, said: "We are profoundly saddened that we say goodbye to Nicola Pietrangeli, a true legend of Italian tennis..."
