Azzurri Tennis Great Nicola Pietrangeli Dies at 92
The tennis champion remains one of only three Italian men to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Italian sport is mourning a genuine legend: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, has died at the age of 92.
Pietrangeli etched his name by becoming the pioneering Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his initial triumph at the French Open in 1959 and retaining the coveted trophy a year later.
With a staggering 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the nation's most accomplished player prior to the rise of current world number two and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is in mourning for an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian inducted in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," confirmed the Italian Tennis Federation.
Beyond his pair of French Open successes, Pietrangeli also was the finalist in Paris in the years 1961 and 1964.
He boasts a remarkable 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, said: "We are profoundly saddened that we say goodbye to Nicola Pietrangeli, a true legend of Italian tennis..."
