Word: santana
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...been beaten by just about everybody too." He was not even named to the 1967 U.S. Davis Cup team, and the officials at Wimbledon obviously thought no better of him. In the first round, he was matched as a sort of warmup boy for the 1966 winner, Manuel Santana of Spain. Never in Wimbledon history had a defending champion been beaten in the first round...
...then there was Manuel Santana. Not all Spaniards fight bulls. At 28, Santana is a lively master from Madrid who aims baseline volleys the way Manolete used to place swords. The winner of last year's U.S. national championship at Forest Hills, he is a precisionist without a big serve, a tactician who learned his artful game on the relatively slow clay courts of Spain. He does pretty well on the faster grass...
...semifinals, Santana met Davidson, whose victory over Emerson gave his game quite a charge. For nearly three hours, he and Santana slashed through a grueling 6-2, 4-6, 9-7, 3-6, 7-5 match that pressed Santana into some of the finest shotmaking seen at Wimbledon in years. The best, that is, until Santana took on Ralston in the finals. Playing impeccable placement tennis, alternating with spins, drops, and some beautifully surgical work at the net, Santana made virtually no mistakes. Ralston, who played brilliantly enough himself, did make mistakes, such as double-faulting nine times. One hour...
...last day, when it no longer mattered, Santana finally came to life. Serving brilliantly and handling Emerson's own, fabled serve with care, Santana beat the Aussie 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 15-13 for Spain's lone victory of the matches -and set off a delirious demonstration by 400 banner-waving, wine-swigging Spanish fans, who broke through police lines and danced across the court in a conga line. Their hero was more subdued. "Today there was no pressure on me," he admitted. "I play better tennis that way." Loser Emerson announced that he intends...
They were lucky to leave with their sneakers. In the first singles match, Australia's lanky Fred Stolle outlasted Santana in a three-hour marathon 10-12, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5. Then Roy Emerson effortlessly disposed of Juan Gisbert 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. That gave the Aussies a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. At that point Captain Harry Hopman decided to give his first team a rest. For the next day's doubles, he called on a pair of youngsters-John Newcombe, 21, and Tony Roche...