Italian tennis legend and style icon Lea Pericoli dies at 89

Italian tennis star and style icon Lea Pericoli has died at the age of 89, the Italian Tennis Federation announced on Friday.

The 27-time national champion from Milan was a fashion icon during her sporting career and later became a popular television presenter and journalist.

During the conservative era of the 1950s and 60s, she revolutionised on-court fashion wearing culottes, short dresses, and skirts sometimes adorned with feathers, frills, and even mink.

“A great lady and legend of Italian tennis,” current top player Jannik Sinner wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of him with Pericoli and captioning it, “A special moment I’ll remember forever”.

Crowds were drawn to the tennis legend’s games as much to see the clothes she wore, initially designed by British player-turned-fashion designer Teddy Tinling.

She has won a total of 27 titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles national championships.

In Grand Slam tournaments, she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon three times — in 1965, 1967, and 1970 — and the Round of 16 at the French Open four times — in 1955, 1960, 1964, and 1971.

Pericoli was Italy’s top player for 14 years, from 1959 to 1976, playing until the age of 40 and dominating on the red clay surface that suited her game.

“This morning we all received bad news. You left Lea, leaving a big void in all of us. You were a wonderful woman before you were even a legend of our sport,” former Italian tennis player Flavia Pennetta wrote on Instagram.

“I was lucky enough to meet you and share with you fantastic moments of my career and my life. I will take your precious teachings with me forever. Hi Lea, rest in peace,” Ms Flavia, who was Italy’s first top ten female singles player, said.

Over the course of her illustrious life, Pericoli defied prejudices and overcame uterine cancer in 1973, followed by breast cancer in 2012.

“Those who seek to become a champion fight a continuous war: it is a very educational sport that has taught me a lot,” the tennis legend once said.