Matija Pecotić (born 3 July 1989) is a Croatian-Maltese tennis player.
Pecotić has a career high
ATP singles ranking of 206 achieved on 23 November 2015. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 485 achieved on 16 November 2015. Pecotić has won 12 ITF titles, 10 singles and 2 doubles.
Pecotic played No. 1 for Princeton University, and became the first player from Princeton since 1984 to reach the semi-finals of the All-American tournament. As a result of his historic run, Pecotic reached a ranking of No.2 in the nation.
Tennis career
Pecotic began playing on the pro tour in January 2014.
Pecotić represented Team Croatia and the
2023 United Cup
The 2023 United Cup was the first edition of the United Cup, an international outdoor hard court mixed-gender team tennis competition held by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Serving as the o ...
where they beat Argentina (5–0) and France (3–2)
Personal life
Pecotić was born in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
,
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
and moved to Malta at the age of 3, where he picked up tennis.
During his time off due to an injury suffered in 2016, Pecotić applied and was accepted to
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
, which he attended from 2017 to 2019, earning an MBA at the completion of his studies.
In 2021, Pecotić began working for a private equity/real estate development firm in West Palm Beach, Florida, but continued to play tournaments that were close by.
College career
He played college tennis at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
, where he became the most winning player in program history. He was also the captain of the tennis team, Princeton's first All-American since 1984, and the first-ever and only three-time Ivy League Player of the Year.
Professional career
2014–16
In January 2014, Pecotic joined the professional tour.
In less than 24 months, he climbed to world No. 206 but was sidelined by an injury that kept him out for most of 2016.
2019
Pecotić returned to the ATP Tour in August 2019, and put up a 46–8 W/L Record to return to the top 300, but did not play for most of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022
In 2022, he only played three events, beating
Stefano Travaglia
Stefano Travaglia (born 18 December 1991 in Ascoli Piceno) is an Italian tennis player.
He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 60, which he reached on 8 February 2021. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 224 achieved on ...
6–0 6–1 in the qualifications of the ATP event in
Umag
Umag (; ; ) is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia.
Its patron saint is Peregrine (martyr), St. Peregrine.
Geography
It is the westernmost town of Croatia, and it includes Bašanija, the westernmost point of Croatia.
Demographics
According to the ...
, Croatia as a wildcard.
2023: ATP debut and first ATP win
In 2023, he debuted for the Croatia national team at the
2023 United Cup
The 2023 United Cup was the first edition of the United Cup, an international outdoor hard court mixed-gender team tennis competition held by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Serving as the o ...
in Perth, Australia but did not play any singles matches. He played one match in doubles with
Petra Marčinko
Petra Marčinko (born 4 December 2005) is a Croatian tennis player.
Marčinko has a career-high WTA rankings, WTA singles ranking of 132, achieved on 23 October 2023. She also has a career-high doubles ranking of 440, achieved on 21 April 2025. ...
. Team Croatia beat Argentina (5–0) and France (3–2) but lost to Greece.
At 33, ranked No. 784 he qualified for his first main draw at the
2023 Delray Beach Open as an alternate defeating two Americans
Stefan Kozlov
Stefan Kozlov (, ; born February 1, 1998) is an American professional tennis player of Russian descent. He has a career-high ATP ranking of world No. 103 achieved on 18 July 2022 and doubles ranking of world No. 180 on 19 June 2017.
Kozlov ma ...
and
Tennys Sandgren
Tennys Loren Sandgren II ( ; born July 22, 1991) is an American former professional tennis player. He has achieved a career-high ATP singles ATP rankings, ranking of No. 41 on January 14, 2019. He played two years of college tennis at the Univer ...
. As a result he moved more than a 100 positions in the rankings. He defeated a third American, former top-10 player
Jack Sock
Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American former professional tennis doubles and a current pickleball player. He won four career singles titles and 17 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, and had career-high tennis rankings of world No. 8 ...
in the first round, his first ATP win ever. In the round of 16 he lost to American
Marcos Giron
Marcos Andres Giron ( ; born July 24, 1993; ) is an American professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 37 achieved on August 5, 2024 and a doubles ranking of No. 194 achieved on August 1, 2022. Giron won the s ...
. He moved another 100 positions into the top 600.
He accepted a wildcard for the qualifications at the
2023 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships
The 2023 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships (also known as the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships for sponsorship purposes) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts.
It was the 53rd edition of the U.S. Men's ...
in Houston.
Singles performance timeline
''Current through the
2023 ATP Tour
The 2023 ATP Tour was the global elite men's professional tennis circuit organised by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for the 2023 tennis season. The 2023 ATP Tour calendar comprised the Grand Slam tournaments, supervised by the I ...
.''
Challenger and Futures/World Tennis Finals
Singles: 16 (10–6)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pecotic, Matija
1989 births
Living people
Croatian male tennis players
Tennis players from Belgrade
Princeton Tigers men's tennis players
Croatian expatriate tennis players in the United States
Harvard Business School alumni
21st-century Croatian sportsmen