Katy Hart and Selina Turulja: The Women that Dominated ahm NPL Mid-Season Festival

Team rivalry. State pride. Nail-biting scorelines. Underdog upsets. For three days, Racqueteer in Sydney became the heartbeat of Australian pickleball.

The NPL Mid-Season Festival had a lot to live up to. It delivered on every count.

As soon as I arrived and saw the first rally, it was clear that this weekend was more than another tournament round. The stakes were higher, and the level of play reflected it. The energy from both the players and the crowd was electric. The players delivered some of the cleanest shots, executed precise dinks and drives, and produced compelling upsets that defined the event.

But even among the high-calibre competition, the women absolutely owned the narrative. Two in particular, Katy Hart and Selina Turulja, set the standard for precision and delivered some of the defining moments of the weekend.

Katy Hart: The Magnetic, Unstoppable Force

Teams Cup? Secured.
State of Origin? Logged.
Gendered Doubles? Finished.
Mixed Doubles? Closed out.

Her performance across the weekend was arguably the most dominant individual storyline the NPL has produced this season. Partnering with Harrison Brown in Mixed Doubles, she went an exceptional 5–1, playing with a level of chemistry and composure that often felt untouchable. She also delivered a huge individual performance to help the Outback across the line in State of Origin.

Katy’s Mixed Doubles campaign wasn’t just successful; it was a masterclass. Across the individual draw, State of Origin, and the grueling Teams Cup — from the Swiss rounds right through to the Sunday Finals — dropping a Mixed set simply wasn’t on her itinerary. Her lone slip-up in the Singles bracket wasn’t a trend; it was a brief statistical anomaly for a player who was otherwise permanently anchored to the winning side of the scoreboard.

But statistics only tell half the story with Katy Hart. To truly understand the dominance, you have to watch her play. For me, Katy is one of the most entertaining players in the game right now. Her presence, both on and off the court, is impossible to ignore. She hunts down seemingly impossible lobs, rips forehand passing shots with confidence, and competes with a refusal to surrender a single rally. There is no ball she considers out of reach.

For opponents, that combination is suffocating: elite technical skill paired with an uncompromising competitive engine.

She commands attention, and the court. And she is arguably the strongest individual player storyline to come out of this festival.

Selina Turulja: Still The Best. Still Hungry.

If Katy Hart brought the high-octane drama to the weekend, Selina Turulja provided the absolute blueprint for sustained, clinical destruction.

Nine singles matches. Nine wins.

Across Teams Cup, State of Origin, and the individual Singles tournament, Selina was essentially untouchable.

She took out Gendered Doubles and the Singles tournament in the same event, defeating Isabelle Papazyan in the Singles final — no small task given Izzy’s own impressive form across the weekend.

Nowhere was Selina’s resilience more evident than when she and Shannon Spencer engineered one of the most stunning upsets of the tournament. As the rallies lengthened, Selina’s determination only increased.

Selina came agonisingly close to the ultimate individual statement: the Triple Crown. Only the pairing of Katy Hart and Harrison Brown denied her in the Mixed Doubles final. The Triple Crown curse lives on, but if there is anyone capable of returning to finally claim it, I think it’s Selina.

Because here’s what this weekend confirmed: Selina Turulja is still one of the best women’s players in the league. She sits at the top for a reason — and the Mid-Season Festival was a reminder of exactly why.

Selina has already spoken about dedicating even more time to pickleball in the second half of 2026. There is no slowing down for Selina, her vision is firmly on getting better. If this is the current version of Selina Turulja, the next one could be frightening. At least for everyone else.

A Question Left Hanging

The one major variable we never got to see play out at Homebush was Nicola Schoeman.

Would her presence have changed the shape of the weekend? Would we be talking about a different outcome in the women’s draw? It’s the kind of tantalising question that lingers over the brackets. Nicola is an absolute weapon on the court, and her absence is always felt. We’ll just have to wait for the next round to get our answers.

For now, the NPL Mid-Season Festival belongs to the history books — three days at Racqueteer, Homebush that delivered exactly what was promised and a whole lot more. Team rivalries settled, for now. State pride stoked. Games that went to the wire.

And a reminder, if one was needed, that women’s pickleball in this league isn’t the undercard.

It’s the main event.