ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Italian tennis cries the disappearance of its icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian player in the World Tennis Hall of Fame, died 92 years ago. He is still the world premier of all time in the Davis Cup for games played (164), matches won in singular (78-32) and double (42-12). He formed with Orlando Sirola the most successful pair ever in the event (34 hits in 42 games) but won it only as captain, in 1976. His greatest merit, he always declared, was to have brought Italy to Chile, to have won the diplomatic and political match against those who pushed for boycott as a form of protest against the regime of General Augusto Pinochet. Champion of the “Dolce Vita” made a mark and identity by Federico Fellini, Pietrangeli was considered among the ten best tennis players in the world between 1957 and 1964, when the charts compiled the journalists.
He triumphed twice at Roland Garros, in 1959 and 1960, years in which he was referred to as number 3 of the world. He won twice at the Internationals of Italy and won a total of 48 titles, to which he added the gold medal to the 4th Mediterranean Games of Naples in 1963 (bating Spanish Manuel Santana) and bronze medal in double with Sirola. He also won the bronze medal in the single male at the tennis tournament at the Mexico City Olympic Games in 1968. “If I had trained more – he said – I would have won more but I would have enjoyed less.”.
BINAGHI “GRAZIE NICOLA, PERDIAMO UN SIMBOLO E IO UN AMICO”
“Today Italian tennis loses its biggest symbol, and I lose a friend.” This is how the long letter-coward published on the website of the Italian Tennis Federation and Padel by President Angelo Binaghi. “Nicola Pietrangeli was not only a champion: was the first to teach us what it really meant to win, inside and out of the field. It was the starting point of everything that our tennis became. With him we realized that we could also compete with the world, that dreaming in great was no longer a gamble,” Binaghi added. “When we talk about Nicola, we immediately think about records, Coppe Davis, titles and triumphs that will remain forever in our history. But the truth is, Nicola was much more. It was a way of being. With his sharp irony, his free spirit, his inexhaustible desire to live and joke, he managed to make tennis something human, true, deeply Italian. Talking with him was always a pleasure and a surprise: you could come out of a conversation laughing at crepapelle or with a reflection that remained within you for days”, continued the number one of FITP.
“In my office there is a photo I care about: I child, raccattapalle in a Davis Cup challenge in Cagliari, and in front of me just him, Nicola Pietrangeli. Every time I look at her, I feel like I’m going back to that day. And I realize, in the end, everything started there for me. That photo is not just a memory: it is a symbol. The symbol of how a child can fall in love with a sport thanks to those who embody it so full and natural. For me, Nicola was not only the greatest player in our history. It was tennis, in the deepest sense of the term,” Binaghi wrote. “I owe him a lot, as a man and as president. Not only for what he did for the Federation and for all of us, but for how he did it: with style, with courage, with his irreverence that was the sign of true outclasses. In his own way, Nicola never changed: direct, sincere, unable to be banal. Even when he provoked, he did it with an intelligence that was born from deep love for our sport,” he specified the number one of FITP.
“Today we like to think that he has reached the Lea sky, and that together they are already playing an extraordinary double mix, having fun as only they knew how to do. Two icons of Italian tennis, inseparable even up there. But for us to stay, it’s a very hard hit. Within a little more than a year we lost two pieces of our soul. Two people who have written our history and who will continue to inspire us, every day, inside and out of the field,” we read in today’s letter. “We will miss his voice, we will miss his smile, his ability to always say what he thought, without fear and without filters. Today we greet a monument of our sport, but also a true friend. One of those who tell you things in your face, who can make you angry and then laugh a second later. And this, in today’s world, is worth over a thousand trophies. Thank you, Nicola. For everything you have given us and for everything you will continue to represent for Italian tennis,” Binaghi concluded.
VOLANDRI E GARBIN “GRAZIE DI TUTTO, LEGGENDA”
The captains of the blue teams of the Davis Cup and BJK Cup, Filippo Volandri and Tathiana Garbin, express their sympathy for the disappearance of the legend of blue tennis. “Today our tennis loses a giant. Nicola Pietrangeli was the first idol and the first true reference point for anyone who loved this sport. For us wearing or wearing the blue shirt, it has never been just a great champion of the past,” said Volandri. “From the ironic joke to the most serious council, he always had the right way to make you reflect and to remind you what it means to represent Italy. It was free, direct, authentic: for this unique. He opened the road to all of us. His victories, his personality and his way of living tennis allowed Italy to believe they can compete at the highest levels. We grew up with his stories, with his overwhelming passion, with his ability to make us feel part of a bigger story. We lose a symbol and a master, but his spirit will remain with us, in every Davis Cup and in every boy who enters the field with the blue jersey. Thank you, Nicola, for all you have represented and will continue to represent for our tennis”, added the Italian captain of Davis.
To echo Garbin: “Nicola for me was much more than a huge champion. It was a firm point of our tennis, a presence you always felt there, even when it was not physically next to you. For my generation, and for all those who came after, it was a silent guide: an example, an authoritative voice, the true guardian of our history.” “It had a unique way of transmitting love for this sport and for the blue mesh. Just a few words, a joke, an anecdote, and immediately remembered how special was what we were living. It was direct, sincere, authentic. Listening to him was a privilege, because every time he left you something inside. Its history will remain intertwined with that of Lea Pericoli: together they lit the first great light of Italian tennis, making entire generations fall in love and giving style, soul and identity to our movement”, added the blue captain.
“Today we lose a milestone of our sport, but what Nicola left us goes far beyond the results and trophies. He lives in our Nationals, in the girls who come to the field with the dream of wearing blue, in whom every day he works to carry out those values that he has embodied so well. Thank you Nicola, on the way you opened and for the example you will continue to be for all of us. Happy trip, legend,” Garbin concluded.
LE REAZIONI DELLA POLITICA
“Italy cries the disappearance of Nicola Pietrangeli. Icon of Italian tennis, one of the greatest national sportsmen of the last century. The first blue to win a Slam. Sincere condolences to his family and loved ones. Rest in peace.” Thus Antonio Tajani, Vice-Premier and Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
“It leaves us one of the greatest Italian tennis players ever, the first blue to win a Slam. A legend of national and international sports. Have a good trip.” Matteo Salvini, vicepremier and minister of Infrastructures and Transport.
“The disappearance of Nicola Pietrangeli deeply softens all the Italian sport. With him we lose not only an extraordinary champion, but an icon, an eternal symbol of his discipline. Pietrangeli embodied Italian tennis: his talent, his charism and his victories have crossed indissolubly entire generations.” So the president of the CONI, Luciano Buonfiglio. “With his success he brought Italy to the international limelight, opening the way to a tradition that continues to shine thanks to the groove he traced. Today we lose an absolute point of reference, an authentic ambassador of values that unite our world. To his family, to President Angelo Binaghi and to the whole Italian tennis movement goes the most sincere cord and the CONI”, he added.
“Nicola Pietrangeli, a tennis legend, leaves us at 92 years old. Absolute primatist in the Davis Cup and protagonist of many unforgettable pages, his memory will remain in the memory of all. To the people who fail to reach my condolences and those of the Senate of the Republic.” This is the message of the President of the Senate, Ignatius Russian.
“The disappearance of Nicola Pietrangeli deprives the tennis player of his story. An extraordinary champion, author of unforgettable enterprises, will remain a reference point for entire generations. My thoughts go to family, friends and tennis, who today weeps an excellent exponent.” So the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Lorenzo Fontana.
– Photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
