Manolo Santana, Spain's First Wimbledon Winner, Dies At 83

Manolo Santana, who became the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon and inspired his country's rise as a tennis power, died Saturday at the age of 83

Madrid, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Dec, 2021 ) :Manolo Santana, who became the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon and inspired his country's rise as a tennis power, died Saturday at the age of 83.

"Thank you a thousand times for what you have done for our country and for having opened the way for so many people. You have always been a point of reference, a friend and a person very close to everyone," tweeted Rafael Nadal, the only other Spanish man to win Wimbledon. "We will miss you." Santana won four major singles titles.

He took the French Open in 1961 and 1964, the US Open at Forest Hills in 1965 and Wimbledon in 1966.

"I was an intruder among the Anglo-Saxons," Santana recalled in an interview with the daily El Mundo in 2016, 50 years after his Wimbledon title.

He won that final wearing the shirt of the team he supported in his native Madrid.

"His love for the club inspired him to win Wimbledon in 1966 in the Real Madrid shirt, making him the first Spanish tennis player to win this Grand Slam," wrote the club on their website.

He also won the gold medal in singles and the silver in doubles in Mexico City in 1968, where tennis was a demonstration event at that year's Olympics.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez lamented the loss of a "legend".

"My condolences to Manolo Santana's family, his loved ones and the tennis world," he tweeted.

Santana was married four times. Spanish media reported that he had been suffering from Parkinson's disease and lived in Marbella, on the Mediterranean coast.