Part-timer Pecotic on his first-round upset: 'I'm going to have to ask for another day off'

Part-time player Matija Pecotic – who had to leave his full-time job early to make his match – upset former world No. 8 Jack Sock in his ATP tour main draw debut at the Delray Beach Open on Tuesday.

Pecotic, 33, works full-time at a real estate investment firm. He beat Sock 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 while his boss watched from the on-court players' box.

“I’m going to have to ask for another day off tomorrow,” he said to reporters after his victory.

"This is a former top-10 guy with an incredible amount of tennis experience and a huge serve,” Pecotic said on his mindset going into the match. “It would be arrogant to think I'm going to come out and expect to win.

"But I figured if I could sink my teeth into the match and work on the two or three patterns I prepared before, that I'm going to have a chance."

He is set to face American Marcos Giron in the second round on Wednesday.

Pecotic was a star tennis player at Princeton University before pursuing a professional career. The highest he was ranked was 206th in 2015 before complications from a stomach surgery left him bed-ridden for eight months, he told the media after winning his qualifying matches.

“That changed the trajectory of my tennis timeline and my tennis career,” he said. Pecotic opted to apply to and subsequently enroll at Harvard Business School, where he rediscovered his passion for tennis as a volunteer coach for Harvard’s team.

Pecotic signed in as an alternate for the Delray Beach qualifying draw on Friday and was told he did not get in. That changed after he went to retrieve some tennis rackets he left to be restrung.

“When I showed up, the supervisor said, ‘There’s a chance that you might get in’. So 30 minutes before the first match, he said, ‘I think one guy’s going to pull out, but it’s not sure,’” Pecotic said. “A couple minutes later he said, ‘I think you’re in the tournament.’”

Pecotic won both of his qualifying matches to set up his match with Sock. “I played a tough match and to beat Tennys (Sandgren in the second round of qualifying) is a real special treat, but totally unexpected. I’m just enjoying it and going as far as I can. And if not, I’ll go back to work!”