Dead Lea Pericoli, the 'Divina' of Italian tennis

Her elegance and gracefulness on the court, the lace dresses with which she supplanted long skirts, arousing scandal and changing the style of women players forever, but above all a genuine passion for tennis that began as a child and was cultivated with tenacity until she became the Italian champion par excellence: Lea Pericoli, 27 titles to her credit in national championships, passed away at 89 years of age (she would have been 90 on 22 March next).

She was born in Milan, but had spent her childhood in Addis Ababa, where her entrepreneur father had moved the family and had a tennis court built in the backyard. Lea, she recounted in an interview some time ago, used to wait patiently for 'the grown-ups' to finish playing in order to take possession of it. When the happiness of playing became, over the years, something more, nobody stopped her, she devoted herself body and soul to the racket. At the time there was no professionalism - no coach, no team, no prizes - 'each of us paid our own way to Wimbledon, I still remember the Atlantic Hotel with a pound a night to sleep, Silvana Lazzarino and I... without a penny'. It was at Wimbledon, in 1955, that Lea Pericoli wore a pink outfit composed of coulottes and petticoat, designed by Ted Tinling: the next day all the newspapers talked about it. "My father made me stop playing for a while", Gianni Clerici had to write him a letter asking that his daughter be allowed to express her personality and talent freely. Lea did this by racking up one success after another: in Grand Slam tournaments, she reached the round of 16 four times at Roland Garros (1955, 1960, 1964 and 1971) and three times on English grass (1965, 1967 and 1970). Number 1 in Italy for 14 years (between 1959 and 1976), he won in Bastad and Lesa, Crans Montana and Cairo, among others, and was a finalist in many tournaments.

In 1973, she courageously faced uterine cancer and made her illness public. And when Umberto Veronesi asked her 'how come you tell everyone that you are ill?', she replied that 'illness is like a game of tennis: when you are about to be defeated, the public applauds you, encourages you. For me it was liberating'. She overcame it, that tumour, and six months after the operation she won the Italian absolute again. She became a testimonial for the fight against cancer (which attacked her again in 2012), with equal commitment and passion.

Tennis, having hung up his racket at the age of 40, continues to be the centre of his life, this time as a journalist and commentator, with the same mastery and elegance. He follows Italian successes with affection, does not hide a soft spot for Flavia Pennetta ('she is the daughter I would have liked to have and did not have'). Nor does he tire of recalling times gone by, as in the book C'era una volta il tennis. Dolce vita, vittorie e sconfitte di Nicola Pietrangeli (Rizzoli 2007), a conversation with his lifelong friend. We too will not tire of remembering you, Lea.