Double winner of Roland-Garros, and great name in Italian tennis, Nicola Pietrangeli died following a long illness, at the age of 92.
His name will remain associated with one of the most beautiful courts on the circuit, surrounded by statues, in the Foro Italico in Rome. Not everyone probably knows who Nicola Pietrangeli was, Italian tennis legend, whose death at the age of 92 was announced this Monday.
About sixty years before Jannik Sinner, the native of Tunis had become the first Transalpine to win a Grand Slam tournament, in this case Roland-Garros in 1959, by beating the South African Ian Vermaak (3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1). A year later, he won again on Parisian clay at the expense of the Chilean Luis Ayala (3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3).
World number 3 at his best ranking, Nicolo Pietrangeli is to date the only Italian admitted to the Tennis Hall of Fame, where he entered in 1986.
Pietrangeli, a precursor for Italian tennis
“Nicola Pietrangeli was not only a champion: he was the first to teach us what it really meant to win, on and off the court. He was the starting point of everything our tennis has become. I owe him a lot, as a man and as president”reacted Angelo Binaghi, the boss of the Italian Federation.
Rafael Nadal, who received the Roland-Garros winner’s trophy from Pietrangeli in 2010, also had a few words for this champion. “I have just learned the sad news of the death of a great Italian and world tennis player. My deepest condolences to his entire family, to his son Filippo and to the entire Italian tennis community. Rest in peace Nicola”, wrote the Majorcan, in Italian in the text.
