Nicola Pietrangeli died at 92: farewell to legendary Italian tennis player

Italian tennis is mourning the passing of Nicola Pietrangeli. The Italian star, the first Italian to win a Grand Slam tournament, has died at the age of 92. Born in Tunis in 1933, Pietrangeli won Roland Garros in singles in 1959 and 1960, writing Belpaese tennis history. Also in the Parisian tournament he reached the final on two other occasions, in 1958 and 1961, and won the doubles tournament in 1959 paired with Orlando Sirola.

World No. 3 in 1959 and 1960, he was a specialist and great dominator on clay and became the’icon of Italian tennis in the world. The crowning glory of his career was the Davis Cup, where he was an absolute protagonist: he holds the world record for matches played and won, with 164 total appearances and 120 victories. He never managed to win the salad bowl as a player but reached the final twice in 1960 and 1961. He then won it as a non-player captain in 1976. He won a total of 55 career tournaments between singles and doubles, and also won the bronze medal in men’s singles at the men’s tennis exhibition tournament at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. He is also the’only Italian tennis player inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (in 1986).

Pietrangeli, recently hospitalized at Gemelli Polyclinic, where he had undergone hip surgery in late 2024, had lost his long-suffering 59-year-old son Giorgio a few months ago. “Today Italian tennis loses its greatest symbol, and I lose a friend – wrote Federtennis President Angelo Binaghi in a note. &#8217 Nicola Pietrangeli was not only a champion: he was the first to teach us what winning really meant, on and off the court. He was the starting point for everything our tennis has become. With him we realized that we too could compete with the world, that dreaming big was no longer a gamble”.

In recent years he had often commented on Jannik Sinner&#8217s accomplishments, acknowledging his talent but not sparing a few barbs, as was always his style: “You have to stop thinking I&#8217m a rosy guy because Jannik has become a champion. I am happy and proud to see the’Italy of tennis dominating the world” he had said in one of his last interviews with Gazzetta dello Sport. On the duel between Sinner and Alcaraz he had expressed himself this way: “Jannik is very strong, unmatched… Alcaraz is a crazy horse, he does everything. He makes mistakes, then he makes phenomenal points, you never know what to expect. Ours is so strong, though, that in all matches he could leave leaving his rivals a few 15s ahead. He would still win”.