Italian tennis legend Nicola Pietrangeli passes away at age 92

Nicola Pietrangeli (Blackcat, Wikimedia Commons)

According to the Associated Press on Monday, Italian tennis star Nicola Pietrangeli of Rome, Italy, (pictured right), passed away at the age of 92. Pietrangeli won two grand slam singles tournaments. He won the French Championship in 1959 and again in 1960. Pietrangeli also won two grand slam doubles events. He won the 1958 French Championship mixed doubles event with Shirley Bloomer Brasher of Great Britain, and then the 1959 French Championship men’s doubles event with Orlando Sirola of Italy. It should be noted that the French Championship became the French Open in 1968.

In the 1958 French Championship mixed doubles final, Pietrangeli and Brasher beat Lorraine Coghlan Robinson of Victoria, Australia, and Bob Howe of Sydney, Australia 8-6, 6-2. In the 1959 French Championship men’s singles final, Pietrangeli beat Ian Vermaak of South Africa in the final, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. In the 1959 men’s doubles final, Pietrangeli and Sirola beat the Australian duo of Roy Emerson and Neale Fraser, 6-3, 6-2, 14-12. Then in the 1960 French Championship men’s singles final, Pietrangeli beat Luis Ayala of Chile, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

It is in Davis Cup action where Pietrangeli set the record books. Well before Italy won three straight Davis Cup tennis tournaments in recent years, Pietrangeli set the Davis Cup records for most singles matches won in a career (78), and most matches won (singles and doubles) in a career (120).

Pietrangeli is the only Italian tennis player inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He was honoured in 1986. Pietrangeli is one of only two Italian men to win multiple grand slam singles titles. The other is Jannik Sinner, who won the 2024 Australian Open, the 2024 United States Open, 2025 Australian Open, and 2025 Wimbledon.