Manuel Santana Martínez (10 May 1938 – 11 December 2021), also known as Manolo Santana, was a Spanish tennis player. He was ranked as amateur world No. 1 in 1965 by Ned Potter and in 1966 by

Lance Tingay Lance Tingay (15 July 1915 – 10 March 1990) was a British sports journalist, historian, and author of several tennis books. For many years his annual ranking of top tennis players was "the only one that counted" before ATP rankings were introduc ...

"Stolle Ranked Second"
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 5 October 1966. and Sport In The USSR. He won the US Open in 1965 and, before winning

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

the following year, he was quoted as saying "grass is just for cows", favouring artificial surfaces.

Career

Santana was born in Madrid, and began his career as a ball boy and "picked up" the game. Santana took up tennis by chance after bringing a meal to his brother, who worked in a tennis club in Madrid. "I saw men in pants playing tennis. I was immediately charmed. I started as a ball boy, and then I started playing. In the end, I am an example of humility in an elitist world," he told newspaper ''

El Español ''El Español'' is a Spanish online newspaper which started in 2015. It has its headquarters in Avenida de Burgos, 16D, 7º, Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid. History In 2014 Pedro J. Ramírez was dismissed as the director from the newspaper '' El M ...

''. In 1965, Santana led Spain to unexpected victory over the U.S. in the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

, and he became a national hero. Despite his previous Grand Slam successes in the French Championships (1961, 1964) and the U.S. Championships (1965), Santana's win at the 1966

lawn tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

championships was a surprise, where he defeated the sixth seed

Dennis Ralston Richard Dennis Ralston (July 27, 1942 – December 6, 2020) was an American professional tennis player whose active career spanned the 1960s and 1970s. As a young player, he was coached by tennis pro Pancho Gonzales. He attended the University o ...

in three straight sets. He also managed to attain the world number 1 ranking in 1965. His last big tournament win was in 1970 by winning Barcelona where he defeated

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...

. He also captured the doubles title in Barcelona that year when he teamed with

Lew Hoad Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledons ...

to defeat Laver/

Andrés Gimeno Andrés Gimeno Tolaguera (3 August 1937 – 9 October 2019) was a Spanish tennis player. His greatest achievement came in 1972, when he won the French Open and became the oldest first-time Grand Slam champion in the Open era at 34 years of age. ...

. Santana was named to the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...

in 1984. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Santana won the gold medal in singles, but tennis was only a demonstration sport at that time. It became a medal sport in 1988 (after another demonstration event in 1984). Santana later was captain of the Spanish

team twice, once in the 1980s and again for four and a half years in the mid-1990s, until he was dismissed in 1999. Until 2019, he was the organizer of the Madrid Masters. Santana managed the Manolo Santana Racquets Club, a tennis club in

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the r ...

, Spain and the Sport Center Manolo Santana, in Madrid. Santana and

Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...

are the only Wimbledon men's singles champions to lose in the first round in the following year; Hewitt's loss was to

Ivo Karlović Ivo Karlović (; born 28 February 1979) is a former Croatian professional tennis player. His height of 211 cm (6 ft 11 in) makes him the joint tallest ranked tennis player in history, along with Reilly Opelka. He has won eight ATP sin ...

in 2003 during the Open era, while Santana's was to Puerto Rico and U.S. No. 1

Charlie Pasarell Charles Manuel Pasarell Jr. (born February 12, 1944) is a Puerto Rican former tennis player, tennis administrator and founder of the current Indian Wells tournament. He has also commented for the Tennis Channel and with Arthur Ashe and Sheridan ...

in 1967 in the last year before the Open era. Santana appeared at the

2011 Wimbledon Championships The 2011 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 125th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...

in London in the Royal Box to watch the men's final, which was between his fellow countryman

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...

and

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...

(who had become world No. 1 after winning his semifinal match against

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...

). In 2020, Santana was awarded the ITF

Philippe Chatrier Award The Philippe Chatrier Award is an annual International Tennis Federation (ITF) award. It was introduced in 1996 to recognise individuals or organisations considered to have made outstanding contributions to tennis globally, both on and off the cou ...

for his contribution to tennis, both on and off the court.

Grand Slam performance timeline

Grand Slam finals

Singles (4 titles)

Source:

Doubles (1 title)

Source:

Personal life

Santana was born in 1938, the son of a father imprisoned for his political beliefs during the early years of the

Franco dictatorship Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. Santana married María Fernanda González-Dopeso in 1963; they had three children (Manuel, Beatriz and Borja). Their marriage ended in 1980. He also had a daughter outside his marriage, Barbara. In 1983, he married reporter Mila Ximénez, with whom he had a daughter, Alba. The divorce, in 1986, was unamicable. He also married (1990) and divorced (2008) Otti Glanzelius. He married Claudia Ines Rodriguez in 2013. The couple married in a private ceremony at the home of friends in

Death

Santana died on 11 December 2021, at the age of 83. The

Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...

announced his death but not the cause.

reacted to his death by posting on Twitter,

"the only other Spanish man to win Wimbledon. We will miss you. Thank you a thousand times for what you have done for our country and for having opened the way for so many people. You have always been a point of reference, a friend and a person very close to everyone."

Spanish King

Felipe VI Felipe VI (;, * eu, Felipe VI.a, * ca, Felip VI, * gl, Filipe VI, . Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is King of Spain. He is the son of former King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, and h ...

also reacted by posting on Twitter,

"there are people who become legends and make a country great. Manolo Santana was and will always be one of them."

Spanish Prime Minister

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has been Prime Minister of Spain since June 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since June 2017, having pr ...

lamented the loss of a "legend". He tweeted,

"my condolences to Manolo Santana's family, his loved ones and the tennis world."

Citations

General sources

* Robertson, Max (ed.). Advisory editor: Kramer, Jack (1974). ''The Encyclopedia of Tennis''. New York: Viking Press. .

External links

* * * *
Manolo Santana Racquets club

Sport Center Manolo Santana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santana, Manuel 1938 births 2021 deaths Competitors at the 1963 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1967 Mediterranean Games French Championships (tennis) champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Spain Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Spain Spanish male tennis players Tennis players at the 1968 Summer Olympics Tennis players from Madrid United States National champions (tennis) Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era) World number 1 ranked male tennis players