There are people who say that the history of the Spanish tennis begins to be written in 1965, the year in which the Spanish tennis began to harvest triumphs. And this is because of a player called Manolo Santana, the first Spanish tennis player that managed to win twice Roland Garros, the first one that managed to raise the trophy of Wimbledon and one of the few that has raised the one of the US Open.

Manuel Santana Martínez was born in May 10th, 1938 in Madrid. He began working as a ball boy in a Tennis Club of Madrid. At the age of ten, he played his first tournament and he managed to win to children older than him. Since that moment, it was shown that Manolo Santana was a promise. Based on effort, he became a good junior tennis player, but he wanted more.

Despite of his triumphs in Spain, it cost him a lot to win the confidence of the Spanish Tennis Federation and to obtain a position in the Davis Cup team. Not only he managed to get this position but also he managed to reach for the first time for the Spanish team, the final in which they lost against Australia. However, this achievement carried him to be known internationally.

Soon, he began to win the biggest tournaments and he also began to be one of the most feared tennis players of those days. In 1961 he managed to become in the Top Ten of the select group of the best professional tennis players. In 1966, he became the number 1 of the world. He won Roland Garros twice, 1961 and 1964. In 1965, he achieved the title in Forest Hills, what at present is known like the US Open. In 1966, he became the first Spaniard who won Wimbledon.

He retired at the age of 32 after winning the Conde of Godó defeating Rod Laver in 1970. Manolo moved away of the courts but never of the tennis world. During beginning of the eighties and the middle of the nineties, he was at the head of the Spanish team of Davis Cup. In that intermediate phase, he was the coach of two of the most important tennis players of the moment: Conchita Martínez and Jennifer Capriati, with whom he obtained the medal of gold in the 92' Barcelona Olympics.

At the present, Manolo is the Mutua Madrileña Masters Madrid Director. This is a pride for him not only because of the prestige that the tournament has inside the ATP circuit, but also because this has contributed his hometown to vibrate with the best tennis of the world during a week every year, in the same way as he did during all his life.

Manolo Santana is the image of the dream and the effort that practicing a sport can give. At the present he is married and has 5 children.