Spanish tennis legend Manolo Santana has died at the age of 83

“The Mutua Madrid Open regrets to announce that Manuel Santana has died this Saturday in Marbella at the age of 83,” announced the organization of the tournament. “The Mutua Madrid Open family wants to ask for respect for Santana’s family and send a huge hug to all his loved ones,” he added. Born in Madrid in 1938, Santana began his idyll with tennis as a ball carrier at the Velázquez Tennis Club in the Spanish capital, where he caught the attention of its leaders and began to train as a professional tennis player. Since his victories in the Spanish Championship, the Spaniard began to aim higher and triumph on the international circuit. With Australians and Americans dominating world tennis, Santana was able to tute them in the sixties. His first ‘big’ fell on the Parisian clay of Roland Garros in 1961 against the Italian Nicola Pietrangeli, before re-engraving his name in the ‘Musketeers’ Cup’ also in 1964 and against the same rival. Only a year later, in 1965, he became the first European to lift the US Open since Henri Cochet did it in 1928, all after beating south Africa’s Cliff in the final Drysdale.Su ‘Grand Slam’ record was completed with the conquest of Wimbledon in 1966 against the American Dennis Ralston, ending 12 years of European drought on the grass of London. Santana did hang the gold medal at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, where tennis participated as an exhibition sport and where he also joined a silver in doubles. After his retirement in 1980, the Spaniard continued to be linked to tennis as a coach, being captain of the Spanish Davis Cup team in two stages -1980-85 and 1995-99-, and as a promoter. In fact, with the help of Ion Tiriac, it was fundamental to get Madrid to host a fundamental event of the ATP and WTA circuit, the Mutua Madrid Open, which has been organized for 19 years since 2002. Santana himself was director of the tournament since 2002 and was currently honorary president, and the central court of the Caja Mágica is named after him.

Original source in Spanish