Italy's Court Legend Nicola Pietrangeli Has Died at 92
The tennis champion is among a select trio of Italian men to win a major singles title.
Italian sport is mourning a genuine icon: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, has died at ninety-two.
He carved his legacy by emerging as the initial Italian to capture a Grand Slam singles title, securing his first triumph at the French Open in 1959 and retaining the coveted trophy in 1960.
With a staggering 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was long held to be the nation's most accomplished player until the rise of current world number two and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner.
"The sport in Italy is in mourning for an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the sole Italian enrolled in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has passed away," stated the Italian Tennis 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 prestigious team competition, 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 double winner, said: "It is with deep sadness that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
