Home / Birthday profiles / Manuel Santana
Portrait of Manuel Santana

Birthday profile

Manuel Santana

Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player (died 2021)

Find birthday twinsOpen interactive profile
Born
May 10, 1938
Died
December 11, 2021
Zodiac sign
Taurus
Birth year
1938

About Manuel Santana

Manuel Santana Martínez, also known as Manolo Santana, was a Spanish tennis player. He was ranked as amateur world No. 1 in 1965 by Ned Potter and in 1966 by Lance Tingay and Sport In The USSR. 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. He won the US Open in 1965 and, before winning Wimbledon the following year, he was quoted as saying "grass is just for cows", favouring artificial surfaces. In 1965, Santana led Spain to unexpected victory over the U.S. in the Davis Cup, and he became a national hero.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Manuel Santana timeline

  1. He won the US Open in 1965 and, before winning Wimbledon the following year, he was quoted as saying "grass is just for cows", favouring artificial surfaces.
  2. In 1965, Santana led Spain to unexpected victory over the U.S. in the Davis Cup, and he became a national hero.
  3. He was ranked as amateur world No. 1 in 1965 by Ned Potter and in 1966 by Lance Tingay and Sport In The USSR.
  4. 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.

The world when Manuel Santana was born

Manuel Santana was born in 1938. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1938

  • #1 song"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" – Ella Fitzgerald
  • Top movieThe Adventures of Robin Hood
  • Best-selling bookRebecca – Daphne du Maurier

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJoe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling in round 1
  • Top headlineWar of the Worlds broadcast causes nationwide panic
  • Technology milestoneNuclear fission discovered
  • Defining fadSuperman debuts in Action Comics #1
  • Notable inventionInstant coffee (Nescafé)
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population129.8M

1938 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Manuel Santana's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19382026
Gas$0.20$3.45/gal
Average home$5,100$435,000
Average income$2,800$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population129.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, ATP Tour, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.