{"id":253079,"date":"2025-07-10T09:08:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T09:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/253079\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T09:08:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T09:08:16","slug":"former-grand-slam-champion-has-not-watched-a-single-match-at-wimbledon-as-he-complains-about-his-treatment-in-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/253079\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Grand Slam champion has not watched a ‘single match’ at Wimbledon as he complains about his treatment in England"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 2025 Wimbledon tournament has been enthralling, as the stars of the ATP and WTA Tours battle it out on the grass.<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the very first round, Wimbledon became must-watch TV, as French Open champion Coco Gauff suffered a shock defeat to Dayana Yastremska<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Several other top seeds lost early at SW19, including Jessica Pegula, Alexander Zverev<\/a>, Jack Draper, and Jasmine Paolini.<\/p>\n

\"AlexanderPhoto by Hannah Peters\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Heading towards the tournament\u2019s conclusion, there are plenty of stories to watch out for, none more intriguing than Novak Djokovic\u2019s hunt for a 25th Grand Slam title<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, as fans around the world continue to tune in, one former Grand Slam champion claims he hasn\u2019t seen a single match at Wimbledon<\/a> in 2025, as he complains about his treatment in England over recent years.<\/p>\n

Nicola Pietrangeli hasn\u2019t watched any of Wimbledon and says the \u2018English didn\u2019t treat him well\u2019<\/p>\n

During an interview with Corriere della Sera<\/a>, two-time French Open champion Nicola Pietrangeli revealed he hasn\u2019t been watching Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

\"NicolaPhoto by Mike Hewitt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen a single match,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have good memories of the last few years as a spectator. The English didn\u2019t treat me well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wouldn\u2019t even give me a car to get around. I took a taxi. I deserved more kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pietrangeli, a legend of Italian tennis, often has the proverbial red carpet rolled out for him at the Italian Open<\/a> and at the ATP Finals in Turin.<\/p>\n

The 91-year-old doesn\u2019t believe he has been treated with enough respect in England, however, as he decides not to watch this year\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n

Pietrangeli, a two-time Grand Slam champion, enjoyed plenty of success at Wimbledon during his career, winning 30 matches, enjoying a sensational run to the semifinals 45 years ago.<\/p>\n\nRound<\/strong><\/td>\nOpponent<\/strong><\/td>\nResult<\/strong><\/td>\nScore<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n1960 Wimbledon \u2013 SF<\/td>\nRod Laver<\/td>\nLoss<\/td>\n6-4, 3-6, 10-8, 2-6, 4-6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n1960 Wimbledon \u2013 QF<\/td>\nBarry MacKay<\/td>\nWin<\/td>\n16-14, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n1960 Wimbledon \u2013 4R<\/td>\nJohn Frost<\/td>\nWin<\/td>\n6-4, 6-1, 6-2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n1960 Wimbledon \u2013 3R<\/td>\nRobert Wilson<\/td>\nWin<\/td>\n6-2, 4-6, 13-11, 6-8, 6-3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n1960 Wimbledon \u2013 2R<\/td>\nMartin Mulligan<\/td>\nWin<\/td>\n6-1, 6-4, 9-7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n1960 Wimbledon \u2013 1R<\/td>\nBudge Patty<\/td>\nWin<\/td>\n6-3, 9-7, 6-3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Nicola Pietrangeli at Wimbledon in 1960<\/p>\n

Taking on the legendary Rod Laver<\/a> in the last four, Pietrangeli fell just short, losing in five sets.<\/p>\n

\"NicolaPhoto by Dennis Oulds\/Central Press\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Pietrangeli failed to return to the quarterfinal stage in his next 12 visits to the All England Club, retiring from tennis in 1973 without a Wimbledon title to his name.<\/p>\n

Decades on, no Italian player, male or female, has won Wimbledon, although that\u2019s not to say they haven\u2019t been close.<\/p>\n

How close have Italian players been to winning Wimbledon?<\/p>\n

In 2021, Matteo Berrettini<\/a> beat Hubert Hurkacz in four sets to advance to the Wimbledon final, becoming the first player to do so in the history of Italian tennis.<\/p>\n

Standing between Berrettini and the Wimbledon title was Djokovic<\/a>, one of the greatest players to ever grace Centre Court.<\/p>\n

During the early stages, it looked like an upset could be on the cards, as an inspired Berrettini won the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 [7-4].<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t quite able to maintain that level throughout, however, as the Italian lost in four sets, 7-6, 4-6, 4-6, 3-6.<\/p>\n

Just three years later, Jasmine Paolini<\/a> became the first Italian woman to qualify for the Wimbledon final, defeating Donna Vekic in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

Dropping the first set of the final to Czechia\u2019s Barbora Krejcikova<\/a>, Paolini battled back to take the second, putting her within touching distance of the title.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t to be, as Krejcikova defeated Paolini<\/a> 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, winning her second Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n

\"BarboraPhoto by Visionhaus\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In 2025, all hopes rest on the shoulders of Jannik Sinner<\/a>, who is searching for his first non-hard-court Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n

The Italian was incredibly fortunate to reach the quarterfinals, as Sinner\u2019s opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, retired<\/a> from their fourth-round match while leading 2-0.<\/p>\n

Dealing with an injury of his own, Sinner will hope his elbow doesn\u2019t trouble him too much when he takes to Court One for his quarterfinal clash with Ben Shelton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Only time will tell if Sinner can go all the way at Wimbledon in 2025, but you certainly won\u2019t want to miss any of the action.<\/p>\n

Sinner and Shelton will play their quarterfinal match on Wednesday, July 9.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 Wimbledon tournament has been enthralling, as the stars of the ATP and WTA Tours battle it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[4294,55644,79,1068,16,15,5068],"class_list":{"0":"post-253079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-nicola-pietrangeli","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-wimbledon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114828155974238219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}