Nuno Borges, Carlos Alcaraz’s third-round opponent at the 2025 Australian Open, revealed in a recent press interaction, his first memories of seeing the Spaniard play. Borges defeated crowd-favorite Jordan Thompson 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the second round on Wednesday, January 15, to set up the Alcaraz matchup for Friday.
The upcoming match will be Borges’ second meeting with Alcaraz on the ATP Tour. The two first clashed on the clay court of the Barcelona Open in 2023, with the World No. 3 securing a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Ahead of their second meet, Borges joined the media on Melbourne Park’s interview terrace on Wednesday and recalled watching Alcaraz live for the first time.
“We shared the court… we didn’t practice with each other but we shared the court in Martos, Spain,” the Portuguese said. “I remember because I did not have a great experience in that tournament [M25]. I remember that I was 15-16, he was already hitting crazy hard, very promising player out there, everybody knew him and he was still playing his first Futures, I don’t know if it was his first and he hadn’t been around for long.
“I believe that’s the first I saw him because I went to Ferrero as well, the academy, but that was before, he probably wasn’t showing up there. I didn’t really catch him much on the Challengers Tour, he passed by pretty quick. So yeah, he’s been around for a little bit but at the very top very quickly.”