Farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, Italian tennis icon and Davis Cup world record holder
He triumphed twice at Roland Garros, in 1959 and 1960, years in which he was listed as world number 3. He won twice at the Internazionali d'Italia and won a total of 48 titles.
He was not on the list.
Italian tennis mourns one of its legends.Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian tennis player inducted into the World Tennis Hall of Fame, has died at the age of 92.
He is still the all-time Davis Cup world record holder for
matches played (164), matches won in singles (78-32) and doubles (42-12).
He formed with Orlando Sirola the most successful pair ever in the event (34 wins in 42 matches) but he only won it as captain, in 1976. His greatest merit, he always declared, was having brought Italy to Chile, winning the match diplomatically and politically against those pushing for a boycott as a form of protest against the regime of General Augusto Pinochet.
A champion of the Dolce Vita made into a brand and identity by Federico Fellini, Pietrangeli was considered among the ten best tennis players in the world between 1957 and 1964, when the rankings were made by journalists.
He triumphed twice at Roland Garros, in 1959 and 1960, years
in which he was listed as world number 3.
He won the Internazionali d'Italia twice and won a total of 48 titles.
He also won the bronze medal in men's singles at the men's
tennis exhibition tournament at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. "If
I had trained more," he said, "I would have won more but had less fun.
Nicola Chirinsky was born 11 September 1933 in Tunis, then a
French colony, to Giulio Pietrangeli, also born in Tunis but of Italian parents
from Abruzzo and Naples, Campania, and Anna Chirinskaya (née von Yourgens), a
Russian noble mother whose Danish colonel father had fled the October
Revolution. At the time of his birth, his mother was married to a Russian
count, and only acquired the surname Pietrangeli upon her marriage to his
father, who was interned as a political prisoner during the Allied invasion of
Tunisia in World War II. He started playing tennis during that period, until
his father was expelled in 1946 and the family settled in Rome, Italy. There,
Pietrangeli, a native French and Russian speaker, learned Italian.
Pietrangeli made his international debut at the 1952 Italian
Open, losing in fours sets to Jacques Peten. He 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 single semifinalist in 1960, when he lost to Rod
Laver in 5 sets. He won the Italian Open in 1957 and 1961 and was ranked World
No. 3 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph in 1959 and 1960 and also by Ned
Potter in 1961.
Grand Slam finals
Singles (2 titles, 2 runners-up)
Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Win 1959 French Championships Clay South
Africa Ian Vermaak 3–6, 6–3, 6–4,
6–1
Win 1960 French Championships Clay Chile Luis
Ayala 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 4–6, 6–3
Loss 1961 French Championships Clay Spain
Manuel Santana 6–4, 1–6, 6–3,
0–6, 2–6
Loss 1964 French Championships Clay Spain
Manuel Santana 3–6, 1–6, 6–4,
5–7
Doubles (1 title, 2 runners-up)
Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1955 French Championships Clay Italy
Orlando Sirola United States Vic Seixas
United States Tony Trabert 1–6,
6–4, 2–6, 4–6
Loss 1956 Wimbledon Championships Grass Italy
Orlando Sirola Australia Lew Hoad
Australia Ken Rosewall 5–7,
2–6, 1–6
Win 1959 French Championships Clay Italy
Orlando Sirola Australia Roy Emerson
Australia Neale Fraser 6–3,
6–2, 14–12
Mixed doubles (1 title)
Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1958 French Championships Clay United
Kingdom Shirley Bloomer Australia
Lorraine Coghlan
Australia Bob Howe 8–6,
6–2
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