Matija Pecotic competes during the qualifying round of the ATP Delray Beach Open on February 12, 2023, at the Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center in Delray Beach, Florida.
“It’s Florida, not New York,” Pecotic said, flashing a smile despite a disappointing 7-6 , 6-4 loss to the top-seeded player in the qualifying draw, Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki. “Five-three, 40-30, set point . . . I served wide, had an easy forehand up the line and missed it by three inches,” he said of Saturday’s near miss. “Against guys ranked that high, you’ve got to take those chances. I make the shot, it’s 6-3 and then he has to win two sets. Sure, I lost the match, but you have perspective. It didn’t shake my confidence any. I mostly did what I had to do, but I had two or three shots that I didn’t execute on and that was the difference.
Then, in his first season as a pro, he posted a smattering of promising results. But he needed hernia surgery before the 2016 Australian Open. It went badly, to say the least.