Italy's Tennis Icon Nicola Pietrangeli Passes Away at 92
The tennis champion is one of only three Italian men to secure a Grand Slam singles title.
Italian sport mourns a authentic legend: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at ninety-two.
He carved his legacy by becoming the pioneering Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, securing his first 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 advent of current star and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is in mourning for an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian enrolled in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has died," stated the national federation.
Beyond his pair of French Open successes, Pietrangeli also finished as runner-up in Paris in the years 1961 and 1964.
He holds 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 two-time winner, said: "It is with deep sadness that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
