Nicola Pietrangeli, the first Italian Grand Slam winner, died at the age of 92.
Italian tennis mourns the loss of one of its greatest players. Nicola Pietrangeli, the country’s first Grand Slam winner and an icon of the sport, has died in Rome at the age of 92. The Italian Tennis Federation announced the news on its website on Monday. Decades before Jannik Sinner and the Italian Davis Cup team went from triumph to triumph, Tunis-born Pietrangeli had put Italian tennis on the international map.
His title at the 1959 French Open as the first player from his country was historic, and he repeated his triumph in 1960 – at Wimbledon, he made it to the semifinals in the same year.
Tennis: Pietrangeli recently criticized Sinner
In 1976, Pietrangeli led Italy to Davis Cup victory as team captain. As a player, he never won this title, even though Pietrangeli holds several records: with 164, he has played the most matches in the international competition worldwide – his 78 singles victories are also a record.
Until recently, Pietrangeli was a strong voice in Italian tennis. In October, he heavily criticized Sinner, ranked second in the world, for his withdrawal from this year’s Davis Cup, which the team went on to win anyway, calling it a “serious blow” for Italian sport.
Pietrangeli lost his son Giorgio in the summer. The former top surfer died at the age of 59.