Nicola Pietrangeli

"Adriano was born to play tennis. It's a shame it didn't last long because he would have been able to beat all my records."

"(About Roger Federer) Like Borg, he's very fair on the court, but that's to be expected: he's the best, he's a billionaire, and he knows there are people who are worse off. Others who don't behave in the same way should consider this and calm down."

"(About Roger Federer) It's hard to find faults with him, to give him a rating below ten. And I challenge anyone to do so. Like Borg, he invented a style, a way of playing."

"Padel allows everyone to have fun. Someone who plays padel badly undoubtedly has more fun than a poor tennis player, who never touches the ball and therefore ends up getting bored. Here the distances are shorter, everything is easier."

"But watching those kids cheering for Ho Chi Minh's China and Mao, and spitting on the American flag, I wondered: what do they know about China? And do they know what communism, which they like so much, is? I had been to Poland in 1956 and to Czechoslovakia the following year. I would have liked to take those students on a trip there to show them up close what they were peddling as the dictatorship of the proletariat."

"(Referring to Federico Luzzi) I didn't know him well, although I knew he was considered the hope of Italian tennis. As a player, he was very nervous, although this is a common trait among young people trying to make a name for themselves. What I don't understand is how a 28-year-old can die while many criminals walk around freely."

"Until I was 19, I played soccer better than tennis. I was in Lazio's youth team, I was a center forward and scored more than one goal per game. When the club decided to loan me out to Serie C, I gave up soccer: as a child I dreamed of being an explorer, I thought that with tennis I would travel more."

"(About Protests of 1968) I saw a generation, or at least a large part of a generation, lost behind certain snake charmers who pursued their goals without scruples. Even on the right, mind you. And many young people got caught up in it, risking their own lives and often those of others."

"Panatta earned in one year what it took me ten years to earn in my day."

"[In 1960, explaining his decision to turn professional] Until now, I have lived like a prince, and I am grateful to the Federation. But it is a fairy-tale world that would vanish at the first sign of my decline. So what prospects would I have left other than to become a coach and spend eleven hours a day under the sun teaching listless and distracted kids how to hit a ball?"

"[In 1960] I am convinced that amateur tennis is destined to disappear. In two or three years, Open Tennis will be a reality that even the Davis Cup will have to adapt to."

"What happened when it became known that the final would be against Chile? I immediately said that any decision not to play would be stupid and reckless, that politics could not stop sport and that thirty years later no one would remember Chile and Pinochet, but only the victory. And letting another team's name be on the Cup because we refused to go there was irresponsible."

"Today, all the credit goes to a phenomenal generation that made tennis a hugely popular sport throughout Italy. And some people wanted to prevent that. It's crazy."

"What was Pietrangeli's most important skill as captain? While playing, knowing how to open water bottles and hand out towels from the right side. Because that's all a captain has to do: if you have Leo Messi, there's no point in telling him how to play. Off the court, it's a little different: you have to know how to manage guys who at some point think they're God."

"In Pietrangeli, the human being always prevailed over the machine capable of playing perfectly."

"How many evenings we spent together, in the dark atmosphere of a nightclub, as the hours of the games drew nearer. The anxiety I felt, as a former player and friend, did not seem to affect Nicola in the slightest."

"If, in our day, they had confined us to an island for six months, without tennis courts, and then made us play a tournament, Nicola would have beaten us all."