Tennur Yerlisu studied Germanistik at Istanbul University's Faculty of Letters between 1985 and 1989.

In 1994, Yerlisu began her doctoral thesis on sports organization and management at Gazi University, receiving a PhD title in 1999.

[2] In 1992, she began an academic career as a research fellow at the College of Sports Sciences and Technologies of Hacettepe University.

Her academic interest is all about recreation, on which subject she has publications at national and international level.

[3] Her two siblings, sister Gülnur and brother Taner Bekir, are both formerly successful national taekwondo practitioners at World and European level.