{"id":276057,"date":"2025-11-06T22:51:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/276057\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T22:51:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:51:12","slug":"novak-djokovic-admits-what-he-got-wrong-about-nuno-borges-after-beating-him-at-the-hellenic-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/276057\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic admits what he got wrong about Nuno Borges after beating him at the Hellenic Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic moved one step closer to his 101st ATP title with a big win in Athens.<\/p>\n

The Serbian star took down Portugal\u2019s Nuno Borges in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4, to book his place in the Hellenic Championship<\/a> semifinals.<\/p>\n

There, Djokovic<\/a> will meet either Marcos Giron or Yannick Hanfmann.<\/p>\n

\"NovakPhoto by Costas Baltas\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Djokovic was in control throughout against Borges, although the level was high from start to finish.<\/p>\n

During his post-match interview, the ATP<\/a> world number five gave his assessment of Borges\u2019 performance.<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic admits he was \u2018surprised\u2019 by how well Nuno Borges played<\/p>\n

After the match, Djokovic was full of praise for his Portuguese opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very physical battle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that Nuno [Borges] played at a very high level. I must say that I was a bit surprised by how good he played.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we went toe-to-toe most of the match, very few points decided the winner tonight, so he deserves a big round of applause for his performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic believes it was his serve that fired him into the Athens semifinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just tried to hang in there, serving well always helps in the important moments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was 5-5 or 4-4 in the first set. I faced the two break points, and I had a couple of big serves, a big second serve that was like a first serve.<\/p>\n

PlayerAcesDouble faults1st Serve %Win % on 1st ServeWin % on 2nd ServeBreak pointsNovak Djokovic9169%86%72%1\/5Nuno Borges7166%68%58%0\/2Serving stats from Novak Djokovic vs Nuno Borges<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes risk pays off in the right moments. You just have to go for it, trust your instincts, and that\u2019s what happened tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played a great tiebreak, in the second set, not too many opportunities really for both of us to break the serve of the other guy. That game when I broke his serve was probably the only game I was able to break him, and that\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll in all, I\u2019m very pleased with the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before leaving, Djokovic took the time to thank the fans in Athens for their support.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, once again, I want to thank everybody for showing up and supporting both of the players tonight. Thank you so much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"NovakPhoto by Costas Baltas\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Speaking on commentary for Sky Sports, Andy Murray\u2019s<\/a> former coach, Miles Maclagan, certainly thought that the fans got their money\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will not be disappointed. That was impressive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect clean ball-striking, but right from the very start\u2026 Commanding performance from Novak Djokovic.\u201d<\/p>\n

He did, however, take the time to praise Borges for putting on a show in the Greek capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it just took him [Djokovic] a little longer to shake off Nuno Borges than he might have expected, the Portuguese player is gritty, hung in for a long time, played really well himself,\u201d said Maclagan.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut just to stay with Djokovic at that level, over that length of time, is not something that many have managed to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw his reaction at the end, it meant something to him, he was pushed. An excellent performance from Borges, I hope he\u2019s ok, but it was a display to enjoy from both players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic will now advance to the last four and is just two games away from clinching his 101st ATP title.<\/p>\n

Who holds the record for most ATP title wins?<\/p>\n

The Serb currently sits third in the all-time list with 100 tour-level titles, but who\u2019s above him?<\/p>\n

RankNameCountryTitles1Jimmy ConnorsUSA1092Roger FedererSwitzerland1033Novak DjokovicSerbia1004Ivan LendlCzechia945Rafael NadalSpain926John McEnroeUSA777Rod LaverAustralia728Bjorn BorgSweden66T-9Pete SamprasUSA64T-9Ilie NastaseRomania64Most ATP title wins (Open Era)<\/p>\n

Only Roger Federer (103) and Jimmy Connors<\/a> (109) have won more ATP titles than Djokovic.<\/p>\n

Should he go all the way in Athens, he\u2019d close to within two title wins of his former foe Federer<\/a> in second.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s far from a foregone conclusion, though, with two tough challenges still to come.<\/p>\n

If Djokovic makes it through to the final, either Lorenzo Musetti<\/a> or Sebastian Korda would await him.<\/p>\n

\"LorenzoPhoto by MAX SLOVENCIK\/APA\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

There is no player more motivated on planet earth right now than Musetti, who needs a title in Athens to qualify for the ATP Finals<\/a> in his home country.<\/p>\n

Only time will tell if Djokovic or Musetti can go all the way at the Hellenic Championship, but you certainly won\u2019t want to miss any of the action.<\/p>\n

Djokovic will return to play his semifinal match on Friday, November 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Novak Djokovic moved one step closer to his 101st ATP title with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[430,145573,433,15222,99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-276057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-hellenic-championship","10":"tag-novak-djokovic","11":"tag-nuno-borges","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}