Bloomberg — The key week in Matija Pecotic’s career it had nothing to do with his full-time job at Wexford Real Estate Investors.
The 33-year-old Croat, who works as director of capital markets for the Florida-based company, had a dream debut on the ATP tennis circuit by winning his first round match at the Delray Beach Open.
They were not the most common days for Pecotic, who is ranked 784 in the world ranking. He earned an alternate spot in the qualifying rounds at the tournament after learning of an opening while looking for his rackets at the club. He won his matches at that stage against Stefan Kozlov and Tennys Sandgren. before delivering the blow of his life against Jack Sock, former world number 8 and Delray Beach champion in 2017. On Wednesday night he lost in the round of 16 against Marcos Girón, number 55 in the ranking.
“I hope this has shown that I can play at a high level,” the lefty told Bloomberg News. “Actually, I’ve never gotten a wild card for any event in my life; all my results have been meritocratic so if this leads to opportunities at other big events I would consider putting Wexford on hiatus, I would not resign.” Pecotic said.
Wexford Capital is led by co-founders Chuck Davidson and Joe Jacobs, who watched Pecotic’s match against Giron along with other colleagues.
“Both of my bosses are tennis fans, they know my heart is still in the game,” Pecotic said.
A three-time Ivy League Player of the Year at Princeton University, Pecotic reached a career-high world number 206 in 2015, before a health problem the following year forced him to take a break from tennis. Then he took the GMAT exam, which led him to pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School.
Pecotic got another shot on tour after his stint in Boston, before the pandemic derailed his plans and he decided to move to Palm Beach, where he fell into a “more sedentary” office lifestyle. She said she had to “learn modelling, learn how Bloomberg works, learn how hedge fund meetings work, learn how real estate development works.”
Prior to Wexford, Pecotic worked in Bill Ackman’s family office, Table Management. “He’s been a great friend and a great support,” Pecotic said, adding that Ackman provided financial backing for him when he was finishing his time at Princeton.
His first meeting with Ackman in 2013 is another memorable anecdote.
“I was warming up Novak Djokovic for the US Open, I needed a lefty because he was preparing for Rafa and I beat him in tie-breaks,” Pecotic said, referring to Spaniard Rafael Nadal.. “Bill came up to me after practice and said, ‘Hey kid, he’s been great… meet your new sponsor, my name is Bill Ackman.’
“I supported Matija at the beginning of his career. He has been successful in everything he has done. It’s great to see it fly. An incredibly talented and disciplined man. Let’s go Matia!”
While at Table, Pecotic said that he played regularly with Ackman. “That was part of the deal.: He told me: ‘You teach me tennis and I teach you to invest’”.
Ackman has also endorsed tennis star Frances Tiafoe, the son of a tennis center janitor who immigrated to the United States from Sierra Leone. The 25-year-old reached the semifinals of the US Open last September and last week rose to a career-high 14th place in the world rankings.
“Did Maija Pecotic go to work before her 6 PM game in Delray Beach?”
After the tournament, Pecotic’s schedule looks a lot more like that of most Wall Street executives.
“I have a four-hour meeting on Thursday where we have to review 43 projects,” he said, explaining that Wexford invests opportunistically from its balance sheet alongside co-investors such as family offices and individuals in multi-family properties, limited-service hotels and facilities for the third Age. “We have not invested in offices in the last 13 years.”
Read more at Bloomberg.com
