Azzurri Tennis Legend Nicola Pietrangeli Passes Away at the Age of 92
The tennis champion remains among a select trio of Italian men to claim a major singles title.
Italian sport is mourning a true legend: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, has died at ninety-two.
Pietrangeli etched his name by emerging as the initial Italian to capture a Grand Slam singles title, earning his maiden triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and successfully defending the coveted trophy in 1960.
With a staggering 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was widely considered the nation's greatest ever player until the rise of current world number two and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is mourning an legend. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian honored in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," confirmed the Italian Tennis Federation.
Alongside his pair of French Open successes, Pietrangeli also reached the final 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 led his country to its maiden title in 1976.
Officials 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..."
