Manuel Santana
Manuel Santana Martínez, 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 and Sport In The USSR.
He won the US Open in 1965 and, before winning Wimbledon 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.In 1965, Santana led Spain to unexpected victory over the U.S. in the Davis Cup, and he became a national hero. Despite his previous Grand Slam successes in the French Championships and the U.S. Championships, Santana's win at the 1966 Wimbledon lawn tennis championships was a surprise, where he defeated the sixth seed Dennis Ralston 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. He also captured the doubles title in Barcelona that year when he teamed with Lew Hoad to defeat Laver/Andrés Gimeno.
Santana was named to the International Tennis Hall of Fame 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.
Santana later was captain of the Spanish Davis Cup 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, Spain and the Sport Center Manolo Santana, in Madrid.
Santana and Lleyton Hewitt 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 in 2003 during the Open era, while Santana's was to Puerto Rico and U.S. No. 1 Charlie Pasarell in 1967 in the last year before the Open era.
Santana appeared at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships in London in the Royal Box to watch the men's final, which was between his fellow countryman Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
In 2020, Santana was awarded the ITF Philippe Chatrier Award for his contribution to tennis, both on and off the court.
Grand Slam finals
Singles (4 titles)
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score | |||||||||||
| Win | 1961 | French Championships | Clay |  Doubles (1 title)
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