Italian Tennis Legend Nicola Pietrangeli Has Died at 92
The tennis champion remains among a select trio of Italian men to secure a major singles title.
Italian sport mourns a true legend: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, has died at ninety-two.
Pietrangeli etched his name by emerging as the pioneering Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his first triumph at Roland Garros in 1959 and retaining the coveted trophy the following year.
With an impressive 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was widely considered the nation's finest player prior to the rise of current world number two and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is mourning an legend. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian enrolled in the World 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 boasts a remarkable 164 matches played for Italy in the Davis Cup, winning 120 of them, and spearheaded his country to its first title in 1976.
Officials of the Italian Open, where he was a two-time winner, said: "It is with deep sadness that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a true legend of Italian tennis..."
