MADRID (AP) — Manuel "Manolo" Santana, who reached No. 1 in the tennis rankings and was the first Spaniard to win a Grand Slam singles title, has died. He was 83.
The Madrid Open announced the death of its honorary president on Saturday. No cause of death was given.
Santana won four major singles championships: The French Championships in 1961 and 1964, the U.S. Championships in 1965 and Wimbledon in 1966, the same year he reached the No. 1 ranking. He added the 1963 French doubles with Roy Emerson.
Santana was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1984.
"It's difficult for a genius to be rewarded in tennis and Manolo was one of those few who could," Gene Scott said at the hall induction ceremony where he spoke on Santana's behalf. "He literally invented one of the strokes that we now see in profusion — the backhand topspin lob."
Rafael Nadal joined in the flood of condolences on social media,