Spain’s first Wimbledon champion
In 1966, England won football’s World Cup, Muhammad Ali was world heavyweight boxing champion, Boris Spassky was the reigning world chess champion, Yorkshire were county cricket champions, US golfer Jack Nicklaus won the British Open at Muirfield, Charlottown and Anglo won their respective Derby and Grand National horse races, Italian rider Giocomo Agostini was world MotoGP champion, Aussie Jack Bradham was the top F1 driver, Wales won Rugby Union’s Five Nations title, England’s John Pulman won the world snooker title, New Zealander Barry Biggs was the world speedway champion, … and for the very first time a Spaniard – Manuel Santana – won the men’s singles tennis title at Wimbledon.
Having won the French Open in 1961 and 1964 and the US Open in 1965, Santana – the world number one amateur at the time - was bang in form, but he was not expected to reach the semi-finals never mind the final in 1966.
The Australian quartet of Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Tony Roche and Fred Stolle, the Brazilian star Roy Emerson and the American Dennis Ralston were the top six seeds, but Santana was quietly confident of lifting the trophy at the All England Club.
Born in Madrid 10 May 1938, Santana was quoted as saying before playing at Wimbledon for the very first time that "grass is just for cows”
He thought that tennis should be played on artificial surfaces as opposed to grass, like those at Wimbledon. But it all went right for Santana in June/July 1966.
He subsequently powered through to the final where he met and beat Ralston 6-4, 11-9, 6-4 in straight sets.
Two years later, 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.
Awarded the captaincy of the Spanish Davis Cup team twice, once in the '80s and again for four-and-a-half years in the mid-'90s, he was dismissed in 1999.
Since then Santana has readily organized the Madrid Masters tournament here in Spain. He is also the manager of the Manolo Santana Racquets club, a tennis club in Marbella, as well as the Sport Center Manolo Santana, in Madrid.
NB: Santana attended the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and was in the Royal Box to watch the men's singles final involving fellow countryman Rafael Nadal lose in four sets to Novak Djokovic who had just become World No. 1.
Also, as a point of interest, Santana and the Aussie Lleyton Hewitt are the only Wimbledon men's reigning singles champions ever to lose in the first round in the following year.