The historic performance at Melbourne Park – he was the first Portuguese player to reach the ‘eighth’ in the first Grand Slam of the season – earned the 26-year-old a ‘jump’ of 22 positions in the world hierarchy, with the national number one now occupying the best career ranking.
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Borges surpassed, in one fell swoop, three compatriots on the list of the best ever in national tennis: Gastão Elias (he was 57th in the ATP hierarchy), Rui Machado (59th) and Frederico Gil (62nd).
The northerner is behind only João Sousa, the best Portuguese player of all time who, in addition to having four ATP titles on his CV, reached 28th place on May 16, 2016, even before becoming the first Portuguese player to reach the ’round of 16′ of a Grand Slam, at the United States Open, in 2018, and at Wimbledon, the following year.
Borges was the protagonist of one of the biggest rises in today’s updated ranking, which continues to be led by Novak Djokovic, despite the Serbian failing to defend his title at Melbourne Park, losing in the semi-finals to Jannik Sinner, who would go on to win the title.
Even with his triumph at the Australian Open, the 22-year-old Italian remains fourth in the ATP hierarchy, behind ‘Djoko’, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and the man he defeated in the final, Russian Daniil Medvedev, who is third.
In the top 10, the biggest change is the fall of Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who lost three places and is now 10th.
In doubles, Francisco Cabral also rose, now being 49th, after being eliminated, alongside Britain’s Henry Patten, in the second round in Australia.
In the women’s hierarchy, Poland’s Iga Swiatek continues to lead, despite being eliminated in the third round in Melbourne, where Aryna Sabalenka lifted the trophy for the second year in a row.
The American Coco Gauff took to the podium, the defending champion of the United States Open who lost precisely to the Belarusian in the semi-finals.
The defeated finalist of the Australian Open, the Chinese Zheng Qinwen, rose eight positions to seventh place, in a ranking in which the Portuguese Francisca Jorge is 207th.