Nicola Piantrengli was an excellent tennis player in his time but most tennis fans today know him by the tennis court in Rome named after him.
The Italian is a 2x Roland Garros champion and he was amazed by compatriot Lorenzo Musetti and his display in Hamburg last week. The 88-year-old watched all his matches and called Musetti personally after the final to congratulate him:
I called Musetti to pay him my compliments. I must have said bravo ten times. He was fantastic. He played like a champion.”
He further credited Musetti calling him the Italian with the best tennis which is a high compliment considering the depth of Italian tennis at the moment:
“In my opinion, he is the Italian who plays the best tennis. I like him a lot because he is highly technical and plays less with power, which makes him different to the others and recalls the players of my time. Fantastic.” He reminds me of us old players and there are no limits to where he can get."