The sport of tennis took Donika Bashota away from her family to a tennis academy at the age of 14. A year later she traveled Europe with the Swedish national team, and at the age of 19 she arrived at WSU. The Cougar freshman has used tennis as her vessel travel to far from the town of Lidkoping, Sweden.

Bashota followed in her older brother’s footsteps when she began playing tennis at the age of eight. After two years of coaching at a local club, Bashota began playing in competitive tournaments.

By the time she was 13-years-old, Bashota had garnered enough attention in her homeland to warrant an opportunity to play at the Lidkoping National Tennis Academy. She packed up her bags and moved away from her family. While she attended high school and began training at the academy, Bashota lived with her grandparents.

Relocation from your family at a young age could distract some, but Bashota was able to keep her mind on tennis.

“I was pretty used to traveling a lot even at that age,” Bashota said. “So I didn’t have any problems with that, it wasn’t like I got very homesick so I couldn’t focus on my tennis.”

Bashota, however, would not rely on weekend visits from her family as the only source of communication. After two years her mom joined her in Lidkoping and not long after that, the rest of the family was in tow. Soon a new house was bought and her whole family had followed to Lidkoping.

At the academy Bashota worked with Coach Lars Granath, a person she attributes a large influence to on her career.

“My previous coach (Granath) was like a second father to me, I mean we were so close and I could call whenever I wanted to and ask him a question,” Bashota said. “It was ok to him, I could really talk to him about anything.”

After one year of training and competing at the academy, under the tutelage of Granath, Bashota played her way on to the national team for the first time.

“It was my goal since I was little (to be on the national team) because it was three girls that were chosen and from when I was 11 I was always the fourth,” Bashota said. “So it was always me and another girl who fought for that spot, so I wasn’t on the team until I was 14 — it was a big deal.”

Playing with the national team and with the academy allowed Bashota to travel all over Europe and to the Middle East. She would travel regularly all across Sweden with her academy teammates to participate in tournaments. With the Swedish National Team she ventured to Russia, Romania, Israel and Egypt, among other places. Aside from the vast travel, representing her country gave Bashota an opportunity to play against skilled competition.

“I like to play against many good players (while at international competitions). You just do your best and you don’t feel as much pressure,” Bashota said. “It’s not like you’re playing against a friend in Sweden that you really know and maybe you should beat her and then that kind of pressure, you don’t feel that when you’re away.”

While she played in Sweden, Bashota formed a relationship with Cougar sophomore tennis player Victoria Matejevic. Matejevic, a native of Helsingborg, in the south of Sweden, met Bashota six years ago.

“We played a lot of tournaments, so we saw each other at tournaments and we played each other, we got friends, we played doubles together,” Matejevic said.

Bashota hadn’t seriously considered playing college tennis in the U.S until late last year. Other options such as staying in Sweden for college or going professional were available to her. Once she did decide to that crossing the Atlantic was the right choice, eligibility concerns disrupted her final months of training.

“I didn’t really have college in my mind until November last year, then I was thinking I should go for college,” Bashota said. “I learned more about the rules, so I ended up not playing tennis after December because I knew that I was not going to be (NCAA) eligible if I did.”

After graduating a year early, by Swedish standards, Bashota had a year to just focus on tennis. However, now with NCAA rules involved, she couldn’t take part in any tournaments. Bashota was still able to train at the academy though, which kept her game at a high level.

“I still practiced a lot, it was a time I was in really good shape and I was in the zone,” Bashota said. “I was like ‘oh gosh, I can beat anyone.’”

Even if Bashota didn’t always imagine herself playing college tennis in the U.S., doing that allowed for her to realize a different dream.

“It’s been my dream for like ever (to live in the U.S.), because in Sweden it’s a big thing to be in America and live here,” Bashota said. “We just love America, we like the culture — or I do — you don’t have to look in a certain way, you don’t have to behave in a certain way.”

As the recruiting process got underway, Bashota received interest from several suitors. The Cougars implored a tag-team approach to recruiting the Swede. Head Coach Lisa Hart said that Cougars had followed Bashota’s junior career for approximately a year before her arrival in Pullman.

“We identified Donika as one of the very best recruits in all of the world,” Hart said. “Our sophomore from Sweden, Victoria Matejevic, played an essential role in helping us identify and recruit Donika.”

Lucky for Bashota she had multiple friends, including Matejevic, who played tennis for schools in the states. These friends played a critical role in helping her choose how to narrow her choices for when it was time to visit.

“I looked to a lot of people and I based my decision from what they told me,” Bashota said. “I thought it was a lot to visit more than three schools, so I eliminated a few.”

Sometimes the information coaches tell you doesn’t always paint the whole picture. This could especially be the case with foreign athletes, who might have less knowledge about various schools.

“I was telling her (Bashota) ‘yeah my coach is interested and wants to talk to her,’” Matejevic said. “She was like ‘that’s cool’ and then I started talking and she asked me questions because sometimes the coach is going to tell you all the good stuff and then she wanted to hear from me.”

Bashota took a trip to the U.S. this summer where she visited Mississippi State University, Baylor University and WSU. After the trip Bashota made her decision to where her next home would be.

“Baylor (tennis program) is very good. but I liked the people here more than Baylor,” Bashota said. “It just clicked better with Pullman and my coach here than the coach at Baylor.”

It was announced that Bashota had signed her National Letter of Intent on July 19 of this year. She played singles and doubles in all of the Cougars fall tournaments. She even paired with country mate Matejevic in doubles on a couple occasions.