Real Estate Investor by Day, Tennis Pro by Night

Matija Pecotic is director of capital markets at Wexford Real Estate Investors, one of the top firms in its field.

Plenty of high-level investment professionals would like to make a mark in professional sports.

Few do.

One of them is Matija Pecotic, director of capital markets at Wexford Real Estate Investors, an affiliate of renowned, $4 billion investment firm Wexford Capital. The company is based in West Palm Beach, Fla., otherwise known as Wall Street South.

Pecotic graduated from Princeton University, where he was one of the best tennis players in the school’s history, and then earned an MBA at Harvard University. So he wasn’t too shabby on the playing fields or in the classroom.

On Tuesday night, Feb. 14, he was on center court at the Delray Beach Open, a small stop on the ATP professional tennis tour. 

Pecotic, 33, made the most of the occasion, beating former world No. 8 Jack Sock.

Sock is a far cry from that level now, ranked No. 143. But it’s still an amazing feat for Pecotic, ranked 784th and owner of zero career wins on the ATP tour before Tuesday, compared with 180 for Sock.

A Day Off From the Investment Grind

Wexford was nice enough to give Pecotic time off to play his match. 

"I had to leave work early today," he quipped. "I had to send an email to the whole team. [My boss] let me off. I'm going to have to ask for another day off tomorrow." (Pecotic’s boss also skipped out to watch him play.)

Presumably, Wexford will give him more time off to continue playing in the tournament.

Pecotic's day job does put some constraints on his tennis training.

"I try to maximize each day. I try to train every morning if I can, five, six times a week," he said, according to ESPN. 

"Sometimes I train with my boss, who is 70 years old. This week I trained with a guy who is probably in his late 50s. But you find creative ways to work around it."

Those Who Came Before

In a sense, Pecotic was turning back the clock. 

Until 1968, tennis was an amateur sport and plenty of players had full-time jobs. Eugene Scott, a Yale-educated Wall Street lawyer, went to work during the 1967 U.S. National Championships (now the U.S. Open). He reached the semifinals, taking the subway to his matches.

Among the few current finance professionals to approach Pecotic’s achievement is John Rogers, co-chief executive of esteemed money management firm Ariel Investments. 

In 2003, Rogers, also a Princeton graduate, who played on the basketball team there, beat Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one at a fantasy camp.

If you watch the video of their game, it certainly appears that Jordan was trying reasonably hard. And thanks to that video proof, passers-by in Chicago, where Rogers works, have asked him if he’s the guy who beat Jordan.

Maybe Pecotic can become famous in West Palm Beach.