Players from different racquet-sport backgrounds are shifting their base to pickleball due to its simple easy-to-pick-up nature. It is easier for people from tennis, badminton, table tennis background to swing the paddle as it is similar to any other racquet sports. But imagine a footballer, who plied his trade in top-flight soccer in Europe, quit the game and transitioned – thinking about drives, dinks and drops, instead of goals and tackling.
Meet Ivan Jakovljevic, who started his soccer career in Croatia and played in the first division league, 1.HNL for NK Osijek. He used to play in the attacking midfield position and later went onto play for lower-division clubs in the Czech Republic and Germany. In 2017, he moved to the USA to play for Oklahoma City Energy FC, which competes at the USL Championship – a second-tier soccer league of the country.
But fate had something else in store for the 34-year-old Croatian. He got to know about pickleball through tennis in 2021. Within a few months, he became a pickleball junkie and went on to win many amateur tournaments before turning pro in 2023.
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Reflecting on the change of mentality from soccer to pickleball, he revealed that initially he did find the sport difficult while playing but with time he adjusted and understood the importance of handling pressure.
“In soccer, you have 90 minutes to play before you win or lose. The match finishes after that time regardless of how each team plays. In pickleball, though, it’s a true win-lose scenario. That’s what I was struggling with the most because you can get tight, and it’s an adjustment switching that mentality'', Ivan told pickleball.com.
When it comes to his list of achievements, he has defeated one of the best pickleball players in the world, Ben Johns and is currently ranked 40th globally as per the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) rankings in the Men's Singles category.
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The 6-feet-two-inch player ptakes a lot of pride of being a left-handed pickler and coupled with tricky moves up his sleeves, he feels it makes the life of his opponents harder. In his Instagram bio, he calls himself a 'lefty specialist'.
“I think my biggest strength is that I’m a lefty because everything is a little different. I also think the attacking part of my game is good because I’m tricky. I don’t have as strong of a tennis background as most other pros, so it’s a little bit harder for my opponents to read me'', Jakovljevic said.
Ivan is presently competing at the prestigious Lapiplasty Pickleball World Championships in Farmers Beach, Texas. The 34-year-old has registered his name in all the Pro Categories and looks to make a mark in a tournament, where the very best in business compete.
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