Manuel Santana obituary | Tennis

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Few people played tennis as beautifully as Manuel Santana. And few have played a greater role in popularising their sport in a major nation. It is not an exaggeration to say that millions of people play tennis in Spain today because Santana, who has died aged 83, won Wimbledon in 1966.

It was not just that a Spaniard won Wimbledon, although he was the first to do so, but that he was the son of a groundskeeper at a tennis club in Madrid. He was a ball boy. He came from the working classes who, in the days of the dictator Francisco Franco, were not supposed to play rich men’s sports.

And tennis in Spain, right up to the 1960s, was a sport reserved for those who could afford to belong to a country club. More so than in most European nations, you had to be almost connected to the aristocracy to wield a racket. The immensity of Santana’s achievement was enhanced by the fact that he ended up being the frequent squash partner of the former king, Juan Carlos. And, for that, the beguiling, delightful Manolo could thank his charm as much as his talent.

The moment Franco reacted to the national outpouring of happiness for their new humble hero by clutching Santana to his chest when he returned from Wimbledon, the class wall that separated the game from the masses came down. Santana had been honoured by Franco before because Wimbledon was not the first of Santana’s grand slam triumphs. He had won the French title in 1961 and 1964, and the US in 1965. But Wimbledon stood head and shoulders above every other tennis tournament in public awareness at that time, and his victory over Dennis Ralston in the final flipped a switch with sports fans in Spain.

Tennis was suddenly a sport everyone wanted to play. The children who used to grab 10 minutes to hit leftover balls with dilapidated rackets were given proper opportunities to play.

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Almost immediately the next generation started to come through, led by the talented Manuel Orantes, a Catalan from a poor family, and soon after that José Higueras, a ballboy at the upper-crust Real Club de Barcelona, who eventually settled in California because he still found it difficult to mingle with the members when he became No 1 in Spain. “We owe everything to Manolo,” said Higueras, referring to Santana: “He opened the door.”

Born in Madrid, to Mercedes (nee Martínez) and Braulio Santana, an electrician, Manolo (Manuel) left school when he was 10, and began working as a ballboy at Club Tenis de Velázquez. At the age of 13, he won the club’s ball boys’ tournament. After Braulio died when Manolo was 16, he was supported by Gloria Giron and her family. “By then I was beginning to play a little but I could only continue to do so because a family who were members of the club helped my mother with expenses, not just for my tennis but for my education,” he explained.

His natural ability, highlighted by exquisite touch, quickly became obvious and by the time he played at Roland Garros, reaching the quarter-finals in 1960, he was developing a first serve of considerable power and a forehand that was becoming one of the game’s great strokes. The following year he announced his arrival at the top of the game in tremendous style, beating Roy Emerson and Rod Laver on the way to the final, where the reigning champion, Nicola Pietrangeli awaited him.

“Nicola had been my idol growing up,” said Santana. “To play him in the final of the French and then to beat him in five sets was very emotional for me. I wanted to jump the net but I was scared so I climbed under the net as I had always done as a ball boy and there was Nicola with his arms wide open. I fell on his shoulder crying.”

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For this reporter it remains one of the great sights of sport – the new champion being consoled in the arms of the champion he had just defeated. They would remain lifelong friends.

After winning Roland Garros for a second time in 1964, Santana made a brave, career-changing decision. “Tennis in those days was dominated by the Anglo-Saxon world and their preferred surface – grass,” Santana recounted when we spoke in Madrid several years ago. “Three of the grand slams were played on grass in those days and I knew I had to win on the surface to be taken seriously. So, in 1965, I decided not to play in Paris so that I could tune my game to the faster courts.”

At Forest Hills that year, he claimed the US title by beating Cliff Drysdale in the final and was carried to the clubhouse on the shoulders of his cheering supporters.

At Wimbledon, Emerson, the champion for two years and hot favourite to win again in 1966, crashed into the umpire’s chair after chasing a shot hurt his shoulder. The Australian struggled on but could not serve and was beaten by the left-handed Owen Davidson, a great doubles player with a modest singles record. Nevertheless, Davidson nearly made the most of his own good fortune by taking Santana to 7-5 in the fifth in the semi-final.

For the Spaniard, the final proved easier. He beat Ralston, the American Davis Cup star, 6-4, 11-9, 6-4.

Meanwhile, Santana had been busy becoming one of the most successful Davis Cup players of all time. With 92 singles and doubles victories in 46 ties, he cemented a position at No 3 behindPietrangeli (120 wins) and Ilie Nastase of Romania (109) as the player with the most wins in the history of the competition. Largely as a result of his efforts, frequently supported by Juan Gisbert, Orantes and the Arilla brothers, Spain reached the Davis Cup Challenge Round twice, in Sydney in 1965 and Brisbane in 1967. But on grass Australia were virtually invincible in those days and the likes of Emerson, Laver and John Newcombe ensured easy victories.

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Retiring from the game in 1970 without the fortune now accrued by top stars, Santana, who spoke excellent English, was hired as a public relations officer by Philip Morris in Madrid and worked for the company for many years.

He became Davis Cup captain for a spell in the late 90s, but had been replaced by the time Spain finally won the cup against Australia in Barcelona in 2000.

Later, he established himself with his third wife, Otti Glanzelius, a Swede, as owner of the Manolo Santana Racquet Club in Marbella after several years as director of tennis at the nearby Puente Romano hotel. After testing the water by running a Europe v Latin America team match in Madrid in the 70s, Santana assumed the role of tournament director of the ATP Masters Series event in Madrid (2002) and the WTA Championships at the same venue (2006-08). He was latterly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Santana’s first three marriages ended in divorce. In 1962 he married Maria Fernanda González-Dopeso, with whom he had a daughter and two sons. He also had a daughter with his second wife, Mila Ximenez, a journalist, and another from a relationship with Bárbara Oltra. In 2013 he married his fourth wife, Claudia Rodríguez.

Manuel Martínez Santana, tennis player, born 10 May 1938; died 11 December 2021

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