[1][2][3] Born in Santana do Ipanema, Pereira moved to Curitiba as a child.

Teliana Pereira, José's elder sister, competed on the WTA Tour and is the most successful of his tennis-playing siblings.

[4] Pereira had a world ranking as high as four on the ITF Junior Circuit and was a two-time winner of the Copa Gerdau.

[5] He attained his career high ranking of 232 in the world in 2015 and featured in the qualifying draw for the 2016 Australian Open.

Injuries have hampered his progress in recent seasons and his ranking fell significantly, but in 2022 he secured his first singles title for five years and has re-entered the world's top 400.