[8] Pavić was born in Split, Croatia, to Jakov, a tennis coach, and Snježana, a kindergarten teacher.

His biggest success as a junior came at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships – Boys' doubles where he won the title partnering George Morgan (UK).

Partnering Ivan Dodig, he reached his first ATP doubles finals at the age of 18 years and 7 months.

In singles, his first ATP-level tour match came at the 2011 ATP Croatia Open in Umag, where he lost to Filippo Volandri in the first round.

His first victory at the ATP-tour level came at 2012 Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in s-Hertogenbosch where he upset world No.

Not being able to secure a permanent partner after the 2017 Miami Open, Pavić temporarily teamed with Austria's doubles veteran Oliver Marach during the European clay court season.

However, Pavić and Marach then made it to three consecutive grass court finals, including the 2017 Wimbledon Championship where they lost 11–13 in the fifth set to (at the time) No.

In November they qualified for the 2017 ATP Finals as first alternates and played one match, beating the Bryan brothers in Round robin.

In Melbourne, Mate also won his second mixed doubles Grand Slam title, this time with Gabriela Dabrowski.

Pavić and Marach's winning streak came to an end at the Rotterdam Open in February, where they lost in the final.

In April, Pavić and Marach reached their first ATP 1000 Masters Series finals in Monte Carlo (losing to Bryan brothers).

3 seeded pair of Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers and the final of the 2021 Italian Open where they won the title defeating No.

[15] At the Olympics he won the gold medal with Mektić in an all-Croatian final defeating Ivan Dodig and Marin Čilić.

[19] In June, Pavić won the Stuttgart Open with Hubert Hurkacz overcoming Tim Pütz and Michael Venus for his 350th win.

[20] In the following week at the ATP 500 2022 Queen's Club Championships, Pavić won his third title for the season in partnership with Mektic and twelfth overall for the pair.

[24][25] The pair won another ATP 500 title at the 2022 Astana Open making it fifth as a team and sixth overall for the season for Pavic.

[27] Pavic and Lyudmyla Kichenok won the mixed doubles title at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships defeating Joran Vliegen and Yifan Xu.

[28] In doubles, he recorded his 400th career win defeating Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos in straight sets in the second round at the All England Club.

[29] Partnering Marcelo Arévalo, Pavić defeated Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the final, 7–5, 6–3 to win the title at the 2024 French Open.

[30] At the 2024 Cincinnati Open he won his sixth Masters title with Marcelo Arévalo, defeating Alex Michelsen and Mackenzie McDonald.

Pavić became a five-time qualifier with four different partners (Oliver Marach, Bruno Soares, Nikola Mektic and Arévalo).