Borges' brilliant breakthrough: Phoenix 'feels like yesterday'

Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour

Flashback one year and Nuno Borges had just won the Arizona Tennis Classic, his biggest career title. He plunged into the Phoenix Country Club pool to celebrate his milestone moment and that evening, he was boarding a plane to Miami, where he was due on court the next day.

It was a whirlwind 24 hours for the champion of the ATP Challenger Tour’s first 175 event. Now pursuing his title defence in Phoenix, the World No. 60 in the PIF ATP Rankings will play in the quarter-finals Friday.

Borges’ dream run a year ago came by surprise, considering he was uncertain if he would even make the main draw.

“I remember I got in at the last minute as an alternate and all of the sudden I’m in the main draw, playing [Diego] Schwartzman first round, a big challenge to start. And a couple days later I was playing for the title,” Borges told the ATP Challenger Tour media team in Phoenix.

“It was one of the toughest weeks I’ve ever had on tour. It was very exhausting but at the same time, very positive. I have the best memories from Phoenix.”

^{Nuno Borges celebrates his title at the Arizona Tennis Classic with a pool plunge. Credit: Mary Grace Grabill}

The memories did not stop in the Arizona desert. Borges took a red-eye flight across the country to Florida, not for a celebratory trip to Disney World, but rather the 27-year-old had a qualifying match in Miami the next day.

A sleepless night featured a delay while connecting in Atlanta before sunrise as technical issues with the plane forced Borges to watch the clock keenly. “For a second I had a thought that I wouldn’t make it to the match,” he said last year.

But it proved to be a few successful days for the former Mississippi State University star, from winning in Phoenix to arriving in Miami Monday morning with time for a two-hour nap ahead of his match. Borges strung together two wins and qualified for his ATP Masters 1000 debut.

“I didn’t even have time to process the whole thing. Looking back, it feels like yesterday,” Borges said. “First ever 175 champion… then I played three matches in Miami and it felt so quick.”

It has been a dream 12 months for Borges, who at this year’s Australian Open became just the second player — man or woman — from Portugal to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament (Joao Sousa, two times). He beat Maximilian Marterer, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Grigor Dimitrov before falling to eventual finalist Daniil Medvedev.

^{Nuno Borges advanced past the second round of a tour-level event for the first time at the Australian Open. Credit: Kelly Defina/Getty Images}

“Against Dimitrov, it was my best match I think ever,” said Borges, who hit a career-high No. 46 last month. “To be able to do it in best of five really required a lot of consistency throughout. That’s what I’m really proud of. It was a great challenge for me to grow and it opened my eyes a little more, keep dreaming a little higher.

“It gave me a great motivation to keep on working knowing that it is possible to go far even though I never expected to be in this place. It’s very humbling.”

Borges’ motivation this week will be to add to the trophy collection he has at his house in Maia, where he also won a Challenger 100 title to close the 2023 season.

“It’s like a closet I have and I put some of my important trophies there,” Borges said. “Unfortunately I can’t put all of them there, but for sure Phoenix has a special place in that cabinet.”

And should the fifth seed be crowned champion again, it will not be such a mad dash to Miami this time around. Borges is entered in the main draw of the ATP Masters 1000, which begins Wednesday 20 March.

Making a splash in Phoenix 🤳💦🏊‍♂️#ATPChallenger | @aztennisclassic | @nunoborges97 pic.twitter.com/BgbclzYfzK

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) March 20, 2023