“The fame was uploaded to the head”

Before a Carlos Alcaraz there was a Rafael Nadal, further back in time, Moyá, Ferrero or Corretja stood out, a few years before Berasategui or Bruguera did, but the great pioneers of Spanish tennis were Andrés Gimeno, Manuel Santana and Manuel Orantes. What is clear is that Spain has a rich tennis history, especially brick dust, although there was champions of all Grand Slams and on all surfaces.

Back in the 60s, tennis had a great revolution with the beginning of the open era, which sowed the foundations of what sport is today, with a calendar that was more or less maintained and also with a quota of professionalism necessary for an organization to exist. For those beginnings of the open era, at the end of the 60s, Manuel Orantes stood out, a Spanish tennis player who knew how to be number 2 in the world and left his mark on Spanish tennis.

His beginnings in tennis

Manuel Orantes was born in 1949 and grew up in a humble neighborhood on the outskirts of Barcelona. His approach to tennis was given as reached in the Salut Tennis Club, there was discovered by Pedro Mora, who was his coach in the youth stage. By 1966, when tennis was about to go to the open era, Orantes won two determining titles in Junior: Wimbledon and Orange Bowl.

Stan Smith, Manuel Orantes and Ili Nastaseen 2015 (Photo: Getty).

Silver Medal in Mexico 68 and Start of the Open Era

In the Olympic games of Mexico 68, tennis was an exhibition sport, so and everything, Manuel Orantes won the silver medal, although it did not count for the Spanish historical medallero because it was an exhibition. That final lost her to Manuel Santana, her compatriot. That same year he began as a professional in the open era and did not take long to leave his mark with the conquest of important titles and historical victories against memorable rivals such as Guillermo Vilas or Jimmy Connors.

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An extraordinary career

Statistics mark that Manuel Orantes is the second Spanish tennis player with the greatest number of titles, logically behind Rafael Nadal who got 92. Orantes has 34, while the podium is completed by David Ferrer with 27. A detail to keep in mind is that Manolo Santana won 73, but only 16 in the open era, while Andrés Gimeno obtained 44, with 7 in the open era. It is important to make that distinction, because ATP itself takes it into account when counting titles.

Undoubtedly, Manuel Orantes made history by getting 34 titles, his first conquest was in Barcelona against Manolo Santana in 1969. Between 1972 and 1973 he obtained nothing more and nothing less than eight titles, which led him to be number 2 in the world in the ranking of the ATP. In 1974 he reached the final of Roland Garros and fell against Bjorn Borg and a year later he defeated Jimmy Connors in the US Open final. In 1976 he would obtain seven titles and in the final stretch of his career about seven more, the last one was in Bournemouth in 1982.

Orantes and Corretja. (Photo: Getty).

The fight with Guillermo Vilas

With Guillermo Vilas he had a relationship of loves and hatred. They knew how to be double companions, they were even together in Buenos Aires, but there was a fight between them and thus was told by the avant -garde in 2024: “Look, there is a story with Vilas … We had become friends. I played with Antonio Muñoz, but he had no individual ranking to go to Wimbledon. In 1974 I doubled with Guillermo, we went to Sweden and Buenos Aires, we began to win games”.

“We got there and then we had to go to Brisbane. The fame was uploaded to the head. That Australian tournament was won, I reached the semifinals. But from there, every time we faced each other, I was not going to beat him, he was going to kill him, butt, ”Orantes continued.

Guillermo Vilas, absolute legend of Argentine tennis. (Photo: Getty).

In addition, he recalled the emblematic semifinal of the US Open of 1975, which remained for the Spanish by 4/6, 1/6, 6/2, 7/5 and 6/4: “I lost against Guillermo Vilas in the semifinal by 2 sets to 1. In the room he went 5-0 and 0-40 below. I won that set and took the victory in the fifth by 6-4. That year I won nine tournaments …”.

Hall of Fame and his link with tennis in the present

Once he retired from tennis, back in the mid -80s, Orantes was captain of the Spanish Davis Cup team, but in the early 90s he resigned after having some conflicts with Emilio Sánchez Vicario, a fundamental piece of the team. He always remained linked to the world of tennis and in 2012 he entered the Hall of Fame. In recent years it remained related to tennis and is a voice of consultation, for the Spaniards it is a true legend.