Azzurri Tennis Legend Nicola Pietrangeli Has Died at 92
The tennis champion remains one of only three Italian men to win a major singles title.
Italian sport is mourning a authentic pioneer: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, passed away at 92.
Pietrangeli etched his name by becoming the first Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, earning his first triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and successfully defending the coveted trophy the following year.
With a remarkable 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was universally regarded as the country's greatest ever player until the emergence of current world number two and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is grieving an titan. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian enrolled in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," confirmed the national federation.
Alongside his pair of French Open victories, Pietrangeli also finished as runner-up 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.
Organisers of the Italian Open, where he was a two-time winner, said: "We are profoundly saddened that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
