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 (1961, 1964) and the U.S. Championships (1965), 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 (after another demonstration event in 1984).

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. Currently, he is 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, England in the Royal Box to watch the Men's Final which was between his fellow countryman Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic (who had just become World No. 1 after winning his semi-final match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).

Grand Slam record

Tournament	Amateur career										Open career			Titles / Played	Career W-L	Career Win%
	'58	'59	'60	'61	'62	'63	'64	'65	'66	'67	'68	'69	'70
Grand Slam Tournaments														4 / 44	95-40	70.37
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0-0	00.00
French Open	A	A	QF	W	SF	SF	W	2R	A	A	A	4R	4R	2/ 8	35-6	85.36
Wimbledon	1R	3R	3R	2R	QF	SF	4R	A	W	1R	3R	A	A	1 / 10	26-9	74.28
US Open	A	2R	A	A	A	A	2R	W	SF	A	A	4R	4R	1 / 6	20-5	80.00

Grand Slam finals

Singles (4 titles)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Opponent in final	Score in final
Winner	1961	French Championships	Nicola Pietrangeli	4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
Winner	1964	French Championships	Nicola Pietrangeli	6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5
Winner	1965	U.S. Championships	Cliff Drysdale	6-2, 7-9, 7-5, 6-1
Winner	1966	Wimbledon Championships	Dennis Ralston	6-4, 11-9, 6-4

Doubles (1 title)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Winner	1963	French Championships	Roy Emerson	Gordon Forbes Abe Segal	6-2, 6-4, 6-4

Personal life

Manolo Santana was married to María Fernanda González-Dopeso, they had four children (Manuel, Beatriz, Borja, & Bárbara), 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.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]