From One Court To Another: Domenika Turkovic’s New Found Passion for Pickleball
The journey of Domenika Turkovic features many exciting stops. Notable events include three years on the Sun Devil Women’s Tennis team, earning two degrees from Arizona State University, and most recently picking up the sport of pickleball. Like all great journeys, it had a beginning, and this one originated in Zagreb, Croatia.
“Croatia is a very small country,” Turkovic said. “Everything is very tiny. It's a very different mentality than here (in the states).”
Turkovic pursued tennis at an early age, and she started out playing in tournaments in her native country. However, she soon found herself competing all over Europe. She was the No. 1 ranked junior player in Croatia before playing college tennis.
“As the years went on it became a little crazy,” Turkovic said. “Just a lot of competing, a lot of practice and traveling. I traveled to a lot of countries in Europe to compete in tennis.”
Eventually, Turkovic took her talents outside of Europe. She was headed for college in the United States.
“The way we have universities back home, if you go to university you can't really play anymore because it's mainly just school and that's it,” Turkovic said. “Whereas in the U.S. you can do everything and they really value college athletics, which made me want to come here because we have great coaches, great teammates, amazing tournaments and great competition.”
Turkovic started her college career at UCF but she transferred to ASU after her sophomore season. As a Sun Devil tennis player, she was coached by Sheila McInerney who impacted her on and off the court.
“She taught me that not everything is about tennis,” Turkovic said. “Caring about people, especially with how she treated us and how she treated other employees around her. I was really impressed with that and just took it with me when I finished school.”
On the court, Turkovic made a mark donning the maroon and gold. During her three years at ASU, she competed at the NCAA Doubles Championships twice alongside Patricija Spaka. In 2023, Turkovic was named the ITA Southwest Region Most Improved Senior and was ranked as high as No. 7 in the country. Turkovic accomplished a lot as a Sun Devil, going 58-45 in singles play and a 48-37 doubles record which included three NCAA doubles championship appearances, two coming as a Sun Devil. but she also achieved substantially on the academics side.
Tukrovic not only attained a bachelor’s degree in psychology but also earned a Master of Sports Law and Business from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in 2023. She credits the faculty at ASU Law for helping her with network and building connections.
“They would organize a lot of networking events,” Turkovic said. “They would make us network with each other or just go out there and try to make some connections, and I really value them for that.”
After graduating with her master’s degree in 2023, Turkovic picked up pickleball on a whim and went from coaching the sport to playing it professionally. She practices three hours a day and frequently competes in tournaments. She says that the experience of playing pickleball has been fun, and enjoying the sport is her main focus right now while growing professionally into the sport.
“Starting in pickleball right now, I'm trying to get to know more people,” Turkovic said. “You can learn a lot of things from different sources. Then you never know, you might get a sponsor or you might be able to coach someone or you can maybe even play pickleball with them.”
In October, she secured her first professional medal at the APP Women’s Open held in Columbus, Ohio with a second place finish in the tournament.
“Sometimes we forget that playing sports is not just being competitive and not doing this for a living. Sometimes it's okay to just enjoy it, and I feel like that's what pickleball has been for me so far. We all have bad days and want to compete and want to win. But at the end of the day, I'm still learning a lot and I'm having a lot of fun.”
Recently, Turkovic returned to Tempe and was at the USA Pickleball Nationals in Mesa last month and took the opportunity to visit her old stomping grounds by being back on campus and overseeing a women’s tennis practice and catching up with old-teammates at Whiteman Tennis Center.
“I was so happy because I was back on campus and just getting all the memories back,” Turkovic said.
It was a homecoming for Turkovic, who is now a proud two-time Sun Devil alum. She has found success following her college days, and she says her time at ASU set her up well for the future.
“ASU really helped me figure out my life in a way, what exactly I want to do and how I want to do things.”