Italy's Tennis Great Nicola Pietrangeli Passes Away at Ninety-Two
The tennis champion remains among a select trio of Italian men to win a major singles title.
Italian sport says goodbye to a genuine legend: Nicola Pietrangeli, a double French Open champion, passed away at 92.
Pietrangeli etched his name by becoming the initial Italian to capture a Grand Slam singles title, securing his first triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and retaining the coveted trophy in 1960.
With a remarkable 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the nation's greatest ever player until the emergence of current world number two and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is mourning an titan. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian enrolled in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," announced the national federation.
Alongside his pair of French Open triumphs, Pietrangeli also reached the final in Paris in both 1961 and 1964.
He holds a record 164 matches played for Italy in the Davis Cup, winning 120 of them, and led his country to its maiden title in 1976.
Organisers of the Italian Open, where he was a double winner, stated: "It is with deep sadness that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
