Manuel Martínez Santana, also known as Manolo Santana, is a former tennis player from Spain. He was ranked as amateur world No. 1 in 1966 by Lance Tingay. Before winning Wimbledon he was quoted as saying "grass is just for cows"; he thought that tennis should be played on artificial surfaces as opposed to lawn tennis courts, like the ones at Wimbledon. This statement has been echoed throughout the years by numerous players including Ivan Lendl, Marat Safin, Marcelo Ríos, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, and, despite his 1973 victory at Wimbledon, Jan Kodeš.
Career
Santana was born in Madrid, and began his career as a ball boy and "picked up" the game. In 1965, Santana led Spain to unexpected victory over the US 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 6–4, 11–9, 6–4. This was his last Grand Slam title. His last big tournament win was in 1970 by winning Barcelona where he defeated Rod Laver 6–4, 6–3, 6–4. He also captured the doubles title in Barcelona that year when he teamed with Lew Hoad to defeat Laver/Andrés Gimeno 6–4 9–7 7–5. He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1984. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Santana won the gold medal in singles, though tennis was only a demonstration sport at that time. It became a medal sport in 1988. He later was captain of the Spanish Davis cup team twice, once in the '80s and again for four and a half years in the mid-'90s, until he was dismissed in 1999. Until 2019, he was the organizer of the Madrid Masters. He manages the Manolo Santana Racquets Club, a tennis club in Marbella, 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 during the Open era, while Santana's was before the Open era. He 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 ITFPhilippe Chatrier Award for his contribution to tennis both on and off the court.
Grand Slam record
Grand Slam finals
Singles (4 titles)
Doubles (1 title)
Personal life
Manolo Santana was married to María Fernanda González-Dopeso, they had four children, their marriage ended in 1980. He later married reporter Mila Ximénez de Cisneros, with whom he has a daughter, Alba. The divorce was not friendly. He's currently divorced from Otti Glanzelius.
