Tennis Icon Lea Pericoli dies at age 89

The Italian Tennis Federation announced on Friday that Lea Pericoli, the flamboyant former national No.1 whose playing career captured the spirit of the Swinging Sixties, passed away on October 4. She was 89.

Born in Milan on March 22, 1935, Pericoli spent her formative years in Africa, after her businessman father, Filippo, moved the family to Ethiopia when Lea was a toddler. Given her first racquet at the age of 10, her love for the game only grew after she was sent to boarding school in Kenya.

By the age of 17, Pericoli was determined to forge a career in tennis and she moved back to Italy to pursue her dream – a decision that launched a lifetime of contribution to the sport, on court and off.

In a career that lasted from the early 1950s until the mid-70s, Pericoli captured an unmatched 27 national titles across singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

On the world stage, she reached the round of 16 at Roland Garros four times (1955, 1960, 1964, and 1971) and at Wimbledon on three occasions (1965, 1967 and 1970). She advanced to the semis in Paris in doubles and mixed doubles and, partnering Silvana Lazzarino, reached the championship match at the Italian Open five times.

Her personal highlight was, understandably, a win against Billie Jean King on the clay courts of Gstaad, Switzerland in 1969.

All self-taught, my tennis was instinctive and wild,” Pericoli once said of her game. Contemporaries remember being driven crazy by her lobs and dropshots, among other tactical tricks.

A solid Top 20 player at her peak, Pericoli ranked as Italy’s No.1 for a record 14 years between 1959 and 1976, and if she didn’t hold the country’s top spot during this period she was inevitably the No.2.

In 1963, she was a member of Italy’s team at the inaugural staging of what is now the Billie Jean King Cup, going on to play in 17 ties over nine years, for an overall win-loss record of 15-15. In 2007, the ITF presented Pericoli with the Fed Cup Award of Excellence.