Italian Court Great Nicola Pietrangeli Has Died at the Age of 92
The tennis champion stands as one of only three Italian men to claim a Grand Slam singles title.
Italian sport is mourning a genuine legend: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at 92.
The player made history by emerging as the pioneering Italian to secure a Grand Slam singles title, earning his maiden triumph at the French Open in 1959 and retaining the coveted trophy the following year.
With a remarkable 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was widely considered the nation's greatest ever player until the rise of current star and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is in mourning for an titan. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian enrolled in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has died," announced the Italian Tennis Federation.
Alongside his two French Open victories, Pietrangeli also was the finalist in Paris in both 1961 and 1964.
He set a remarkable 164 matches played for Italy in the Davis Cup, winning 120 of them, and guided his country to its first title in 1976.
Officials of the Italian Open, an event where he was a two-time winner, commented: "We are profoundly saddened that we say goodbye to Nicola Pietrangeli, a true legend of Italian tennis..."
