'Inat': The Serbian mindset that made Auburn's Alex Petrovic an ace

Three injuries in three years could have derailed him. But, inspired by his family, "Petro" has powered through for a breakout season on the Plains.

(Addi Ray/Auburn Tigers)

AUBURN — Adversity is something that has never really fazed Alex Petrovic.

On the mound, the Auburn pitcher has always been calm and collected. A shining example came in a two-game stretch in which he allowed multiple runs in the first inning against Florida and Oklahoma before shutting them out the rest of the way.

“He’s always been very emotionally even,” Zeljko Petrovic, Alex’s father, told The Observer. “He’s just balanced. Composure. Belief in his tools that they’ll play out well. He doesn’t get rattled, and I noticed that as he was growing up. A lot of kids would run high and low… good and bad, he’s always composed.

“You definitely see competitive spirit. But, when he’s on the mound, he’s able to keep his composure and execute in some of the tough moments and bounce back when something doesn’t go his way.”

For a while, there was a lot that did not go right for Petrovic.

In his senior year of high school, Petrovic began to experience inflammation in his throwing arm, which lingered. Flash-forward to the fall of 2023, his freshman year at Auburn, Petrovic threw just one bullpen session before seeing the inflammation again.

Petrovic recovered from that and felt great heading into his first spring. But he was only able to throw 11 innings before a stress fracture in his right elbow ended his season prematurely.

After rehabbing and returning in the spring of 2025, Petrovic suffered the same injury in a different spot. But this time, instead of another surgery, he went down to the Florida Base Armory in Lakeland, Fla., for six weeks — where the trainers were able to nail down the cause of his injuries and how to fix them.

Since that point, Petrovic has not only managed to stay healthy, but he’s also managed a 3.21 ERA, a top-five mark among all SEC starters.

Additionally, he is also one of only four SEC starters to have a WHIP below 1.0 at 0.996.

But for him, that’s just the icing on the proverbial cake. He has started 15 games this season for the No. 4 overall seed Auburn Tigers while completing his main goal: staying healthy for a full year.

“Awesome experience,” Petrovic said. “Been able to give back to the coaches that have kept me here — that’s definitely something that’s always been on my mind, being able to reciprocate the faith that they’ve had in me and being able to do it for my teammates as well.

“Being out there every week is a blessing; I don’t take it for granted. Being healthy, I don’t take for granted. It’s something that’s definitely taught me a little in my journey.”

Petrovic admitted the negative thoughts began to creep in after his third injury.

“Is it going to keep happening?”

But, ultimately, his unbreakable mentality won out. It’s something he credits heavily to his family.

“That’s how my family works,” Petrovic said. “It’s work ethic. It’s process over results. It’s everything that I can do myself and not have to worry about anything like that.”

The word “inat” is a Serbian word that describes a deliberate, passionate determination to prove skeptics wrong and triumph because somebody said you couldn’t.

It has no one-to-one translation into English or any other language. It’s also a word tennis superstar Novak Djokovic has often used throughout his career.

It’s a word that describes not only Alex and his recovery, but, really, his whole family.