Nuno Borges has already been enjoying a historic year, and later this month he will become the first Mississippi State tennis player to compete on the Olympic stage.
Borges, the current top-ranked player from Portugal, advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open in January, his best singles performance to date at any Grand Slam event. He fell in the first round at the next two majors, the French Open and Wimbledon, but will return to the courts at Roland Garros to compete for an Olympic medal in Paris.
A three-time Southeastern Conference Player of the Year for the Bulldogs, Borges was also the 2019 ITA National Player of the Year and finished second in the NCAA singles championship that year. He turned pro following graduation, but the COVID-19 pandemic prevented him from playing in any big events until 2021. Borges made his Grand Slam singles main draw debut at the 2022 French Open, at age 25.
Prior to his run in Melbourne this year, Borges had never advanced past the second round at a major. But he upset Grigor Dimitrov in the third round at the 2024 Australian Open before falling in four sets to Daniil Medvedev. At the Italian Open in May, Borges again reached the fourth round before his run came to an end against Alexander Zverev, another of the world’s top-ranked players.
Borges is just the seventh Portuguese tennis player to qualify for the Olympics, and he will attempt to become the first to win a medal.
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