Nicola Pietrangeli, Tonino Zugarelli’s remembrance and tribute

So Antonio Zugarelli, aka “Tonino,” when asked by Ansa paid tribute to Nicola Pietrangeli, his non-player captain at the time of his Davis Cup triumph in Santiago against Chile in December 1976 along with Adriano Panatta, Paolo Bertolucci and Corrado Barazzutti.

“I am very regretful that he passed away, everyone is sorry. I give all credit to Nicola, both what he did both in tennis and as a person off the court. He was the main architect of our tennis,” Zugarelli said.

“We all know he was a great player, he was able to ennoble our sport. As captain we won a Davis with him, but the great merit he has is that he was the architect of that final. He was able to take us to Santiago de Chile against political will, and thanks to him we won Italy&#8217s first Davis Cup,” he continued.

Zugarelli, very comfortable on grass courts, was deployed by Pietrangeli as a singles player in place of Barazzutti when Italy had to face Great Britain in the Davis Cup and he repaid the captain’s trust by defeating both Roger Taylor and John Lloyd, bringing Italy two decisive points for the victory against the British and for the continuation of the path to the Santiago final.