Borges can help Bulldogs with smarts, athletic ability
Nuno Borges has the athletic ability to beat most opponents that cross his path on the tennis court.
If there are days when the Mississippi State junior may not be at his best physically, he can use the mental part of the game to his advantage.
Borges can out-think other players as well as out-play them.
The Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in men’s tennis has been one of the main reasons the Bulldogs have had such a successful season.
MSU head men’s tennis coach Matt Roberts calls Borges “a machine,” but said he hasn’t reached that status overnight.
“He believes in himself, but it’s been a process,” Roberts said. “He’s human. There have been moments when we’ve had to sit down with him, build him up and make him realize that when you focus on the things you can control, that will lead to many successes and even bigger successes.”
Making the jump from high school to college was tough at first for Borges, but with the help of Mississippi State athletic academic advisor Jimmy Glassford, he has been able to adapt well.
Borges learned how to balance academics and still have time to prepare for tennis.
“We manage to put the classes and labs in the morning, so we can practice all afternoon,” Borges said. “We study at night and we have little breaks. We have to use that time as much as we can with the empty spaces in our schedule to make the most out of it.”
When Borges arrived in Starkville from Maia, Porto, Portugal, winning awards like SEC Player of the Year and SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year weren’t on his radar.
Borges became the first Bulldog to claim back-toback SEC Player of the Year awards and should be favored to make it a three-peat next year. He is the first SEC men’s tennis student-athlete to get both SEC Player of the Year and SEC ScholarAthlete of the Year since the academic award began in 2004.
“I didn’t even know those were things,” Borges said about the awards. “I never thought I’d be getting them one day. I guess hard work pays off and I’m really proud of myself. I really think I work hard for everything.”
Roberts said Borges does a good job of using his brain to make him a better tennis player.
Borges studies his opponents and finds ways to defeat them.
“(Borges finds out) what they are weak in and what they are strong in, then he can apply a game plan to that,” Roberts said. “Now he’s really putting that stuff together. He’s a leader for us in every area.”