Nicola Pietrangeli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicola "Nicky" Pietrangeli (born September 11, 1933, in Tunis, Tunisia) is a former tennis player from Italy. He is considered by many to be Italy's greatest-ever tennis champion.
Pietrangeli appeared in four men's singles finals at Roland Garros – winning the title in 1959 and 1960, and finishing runner-up in 1961 and 1964. He also won the Roland Garros men's doubles title in 1959 (together with Orlando Sirola), and the mixed doubles in 1958. At Wimbledon, Pietrangeli was a mixed doubles runner-up in 1956 and a single semifinalist in 1960, when he lost to Rod Laver in 5 sets (6–4, 3–6, 8-10, 6–2, 6–4).
Pietrangeli represented Italy in the Davis Cup between 1954 and 1972. He played in a record 164 Davis Cup rubbers, winning a record 120. He was a player on the Italian teams which reached the Davis Cup final in 1960 and 1961. Both finals were played on grass courts in Australia, and the Italians were not able to overcome the strong Australian team which included Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and Neale Fraser.
After retiring as a player, Pietrangeli became Italy's Davis Cup team captain and guided them to winning their first-ever Davis Cup in 1976.
Pietrangeli was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1986. On his 73rd birthday, the old tennis stadium in Foro Italico of Rome was named in his honour; he is among the very few tennis players to have received such an honour while still living (others include Laver and Margaret Court).
