Italian tennis legend and four-time Grand Slam champion Nicola Pietrangeli passes away

Nicola Pietrangeli, a four-time Grand slam champion and one of Italy's greatest tennis stars, has passed away at the age of 92.

He is considered by many to be one of Italy's most iconic tennis players in a glittering career which ranged from winning the biggest titles in the world in singles and doubles events to having the honour of captaining his home nation in the Davis Cup. His death comes months after the tragic news of his son, Giorgio, passing at the age of 59. 

The news was announced by the Italian Tennis Federation. "Italian tennis mourns its icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian tennis player inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has died at the age of 92," the Italian Tennis Federation wrote.

Pietrangeli made his professional tennis debut in his home event, the Italian Open in 1952. Later in his career, he would have a show court in Rome named after him honouring his achievements in the sport.

His talent would be showcased on the main stage in doubles where he made the French Open final in 1955 and Wimbledon in 1956. Teamed up with fellow Italian Orlando Sirola, they lost both matches but Pietrangeli's potential had now been shone. He finally achieved his dream in 1958 in the mixed doubles at Roland Garros where he became the first Italian to win a Grand Slam title, partnered with Shirley Bloomer. A year later him and Sirola tasted success in Paris as Pietrangeli lifted his second Grand Slam title. 

That was not the only Grand Slam title he won at Roland Garros in 1959. He fended off the competition to win the singles title. He defeated Ian Vermaak after finding himself a set down in the final to make more history for his country. A year later, he defended his title in sublime fashion, getting the better of Chilean Luis Ayala in a five-set thriller. He made two more French Open finals in 1961 and 1964, but both times he succumbed to defeat against Spaniard Manuel Santana. 

Between 1960 and 1961, he helped Italy reach the Davis Cup Final, their first final appearances in the event. However, he could not deliver a coveted title for his nation. While he could not win it as a player, he redeemed himself as team captain in 1976 as he guided his beloved country to their maiden Davis Cup title in 1976. He received the prestigious honour of being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1986. Only a select few tennis stars are able to bestow this glorious honour, with Pietrangeli deserving his spot after acting as a trailblazer for Italian tennis.

Federation president Angelo Binaghi offered some kind words after the sad news. "Today, Italian tennis loses its greatest symbol, and I lose a friend. Nicola Pietrangeli wasn't just a champion: he was the first to teach us what it meant to truly win, on and off the court," he told Sky Sports Italy. "He was the starting point for everything our tennis has become. With him, we understood that we too could compete with the world, that dreaming big was no longer a gamble. When you talk about Nicola, you immediately think of the records, the Davis Cups, the titles and triumphs that will forever remain in our history. But the truth is that Nicola was much more. It was a way of being. With his cutting wit, his free spirit, his inexhaustible desire to live and joke, he managed to make tennis something human, real, profoundly Italian.

"Talking to him was always a pleasure and a surprise: you could leave a conversation laughing out loud or with a reflection that stayed with you for days. In my office, there is a photo that is very dear to me: me as a child, a ball boy in a Davis Cup match in Cagliari, and in front of me, Nicola Pietrangeli. Every time I look at it, I feel like I'm going back to that day. And I realise that, ultimately, everything began there for me. That photo is not just a memory: it's a symbol. The symbol of how a child can fall in love with a sport thanks to someone who embodies it so fully and naturally. Nicola was not only the greatest player in our history. He was tennis, in the deepest sense of the word."

He was a two-time champion at the Italian Open, with them showing their respect on social media. "It is with profound sadness that we say goodbye to Nicola Pietrangeli, a true legend of Italian tennis and two-time Rome champion (1957, 1961). His legacy will forever live on in the history of our sport, in the memory of our tournament, and in the stadium that proudly bears his name. Ciao, Nicola," they posted on X.