Nuno Borges (tennis)

Nuno Borges (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈnunu ˈβɔɾʒɨʃ];^[a] born 19 February 1997) is a Portuguese professional tennis player. Borges has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 30, achieved on 9 September 2024 and a doubles ranking of No. 69, achieved on 19 September 2022.^[1] He is currently the No. 1 player from Portugal.^[2]

Borges won his first ATP singles title at the 2024 Swedish Open in Båstad, Sweden. In the final, he beat Rafael Nadal, becoming one of only five players (with Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Zeballos) to beat Nadal in a clay court final.

Borges had a combined ITF juniors ranking of world No. 44, achieved on 13 April 2015.^[3]

Borges played US college tennis at Mississippi State University from 2015 to 2019.^[4] As a player of the Mississippi State Bulldogs he was NCAA singles runner-up in 2019, Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Player of the Year in 2019, and won the SEC Player of the Year Award three times (2017, 2018, 2019), having ranked #1 in both singles and doubles at the national level.^[5][6][7]

Borges made his ATP debut at the 2021 Estoril Open after qualifying for the singles draw. He then defeated Jordan Thompson in the first round to win his first ATP match and lost against former US Open champion Marin Čilić in the second round. He repeated the same feat at the 2022 Estoril Open where he also reached the second round as a wildcard after Pablo Andújar retirement but lost to Frances Tiafoe.^[8][9]

Borges won two ATP Challenger singles and nine doubles titles with Francisco Cabral, a record doubles of six in 2021.^[10]

He reached the top 100 in doubles after winning his first ATP title ^[11][12] at the 2022 Estoril Open with Francisco Cabral and where they defeated the top seeded pair Jamie Murray and Michael Venus en route. They became the first Portuguese pair to reach and win the final at their home tournament, and have done so on their ATP doubles debut.^{[13][14][15][16]}

At the 2022 French Open Borges qualified to make his Grand Slam main draw singles debut.^[17]

He also qualified for his second Grand Slam of the year at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships as a lucky loser after the late withdrawal of Marin Čilić. In doubles at the same tournament he reached the second round on his doubles Major debut partnering with Cabral.

He qualified for his third straight Grand Slam at the US Open defeating Francesco Maestrelli in a third set super tiebreak.^[18] He won his first round match against wildcard Ben Shelton. In doubles he reached the second round partnering again with Cabral. As a result, he moved into the top 100 in the singles rankings at world No. 93 and into the top 70 in doubles on 12 September 2022.^[19]

He made his debut at the 2023 Australian Open where he lost in the first round to Lorenzo Sonego.

At the 2023 Delray Beach Open he qualified for the main draw defeating Steve Johnson whom he defeated again in the first round. He lost in the second round to eventual runner-up Miomir Kecmanović.

He won his first title of the season at the 2023 Monterrey Challenger, Mexico defeating Borna Gojo in the final and reached the top 85. Borges created history by winning the first ATP Challenger 175 category at the Phoenix Challenger. After winning his biggest title of his career and second of the season, he reached the top 70.^[20] The following day he entered the qualifying competition at the 2023 Miami Open and won his two qualifying matches to make his Masters 1000 debut.^[21]

At the 2023 Italian Open, he earned his first Masters 1000 win over Dušan Lajović.^[22] His good form continued at the 2023 French Open where he defeated John Isner for his first win at this Major.

He reached the fourth round of a Major for the first time in his career at the 2024 Australian Open defeating Maximilian Marterer, 23rd seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina^[23] and 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov, his first top 20 win, becoming the first Portuguese player to reach the fourth round of either singles draw at this Major. He was also just the second Portuguese player to reach the second week of a Grand Slam after João Sousa.^[24][25] He lost to Daniil Medvedev in four sets.^[26] As a result he became the second Portuguese tennis player to break into the top 50 of the ATP rankings.^[27] He defended his Challenger 175 category title at the 2024 Arizona Tennis Classic beating former world #6 Matteo Berrettini in the final.^[28]

Borges reached his first ATP Tour final at the Swedish Open, defeating Thiago Agustín Tirante in the semifinals to set up a meeting with 22-time Grand Slam champion, Rafael Nadal.^[29] Borges defeated the Spaniard in straight sets to win his first ATP title, making him the ninth first-time ATP Tour champion for 2024 and the fifth man to beat Nadal in a clay court final (the others being the rest of the Big Four and Horacio Zeballos).^[30][31]

At the 2024 National Bank Open he defeated Miomir Kecmanović and upset 12th seed Ugo Humbert. As a result he reached the top 40 in the rankings on 12 August 2024.^[32] Ranked No. 39, he qualified for the next Masters, the 2024 Cincinnati Open and defeated Adrian Mannarino. As a result he moved into the top 35 in the rankings on 19 August 2024. At the US Open he reached the third round for the first time at this Major, with wins over Federico Coria and Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Current through the 2025 French Open.

• indicates the outcome of the Davis Cup match followed by the score, date, place of event, the zonal classification and its phase, and the court surface.

• Borges has a 1–13 (7.14%) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.^[33]

• Key: (Rk) first use, opponent rank; (Rd) round; (Rk) 2nd use, player rank; (Ref) reference; (F) final; (SF) semifinal; (QF) quarterfinal; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage

• Nuno Borges at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Nuno Borges at the International Tennis Federation
• Nuno Borges at the Davis Cup
• Nuno Borges at Olympics.com