Part-time tennis player Matija Pecotic was forced to request more time off from his finance job after a shock victory at the Delray Beach Open.
World No.784 Pecotic stunned Jack Sock 4-6 6-2 6-2 in Florida on his ATP Tour main draw debut after coming through qualifying at the event.
The 33-year-old Croatian, who juggles a full-time job at a real estate investment firm with his tennis career, had to leave work early for his clash against the accomplished American Sock. And Pecotic produced a remarkable performance as he fired 10 aces and 30 winners on his way to a monumental first round victory in just over two hours.
Pecotic's boss was in attendance court side in his player box and the Harvard business graduate needed to ask for another day off work for Wednesday's last 16 clash against world no.55 Marcos Giron.
"I had to leave work early," he said. "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."
Pecotic, who has never reached a main draw in a Grand Slam, had been pragmatic in his approach to playing such an esteemed opponent in Sock, but never doubted his ability to cause an upset.
"This is a former top 10 guy with an incredible amount of tennis experience and a huge serve," he said, as per the ATP Tour website. "He came out serving 134mph on the first serve. 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."
Ahead of the tournament, Pecotic - who reached a career high ranking of 206th in 2016 -said that he tries to squeeze in practice before his typical 9am until 6pm days at work.
"I absolutely love this game and I know it's not forever and I'm 33," he admitted. "I try to maximise each day. I try to train every morning if I can, five, six times a week. 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."
