Santana was born in Madrid, and began his career as a ball boy and "picked up" the game. Santana took up tennis by chance after bringing a meal to his brother, who worked in a tennis club in Madrid. "I saw men in pants playing tennis. I was immediately charmed. I started as a ball boy, and then I started playing. In the end, I am an example of humility in an elitist world," he told newspaper
El Español. In 1965, Santana led Spain to unexpected victory over the U.S. 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 in three straight sets. He also managed to attain the world number 1 ranking in 1965. His last big tournament win was in 1970 by winning Barcelona where he defeated
Rod Laver. He also captured the doubles title in Barcelona that year when he teamed with
Lew Hoad to defeat Laver/
Andrés Gimeno. Santana was named to the
International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1984. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Santana won the gold medal in singles, but tennis was only a demonstration sport at that time. It became a medal sport in 1988 (after another demonstration event in 1984). Santana managed the Manolo Santana Racquets Club, a tennis club in
Marbella, Spain and the Sport Center Manolo Santana, in Madrid. Santana appeared at the
2011 Wimbledon Championships in London in the Royal Box to watch the men's final, which was between his fellow countryman
Rafael Nadal and
Novak Djokovic (who had become world No. 1 after winning his semifinal match against
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga). In 2020, Santana was awarded the
ITF Philippe Chatrier Award for his contribution to tennis, both on and off the court. ==Grand Slam performance timeline==