Jelena Dokic (; ; born 12 April 1983) is an Australian broadcaster, tennis analyst, former professional player and public speaker. Her highest ranking as a tennis player was world No. 4, in August 2002. She won WTA Tour events on all surfaces during her career.
In the 1999 Wimbledon Championships the 16-year-old Dokic achieved one of the biggest upsets in tennis history, beating Martina Hingis 6–2, 6–0 in the first round. This remains the only time the women's world No. 1 has ever lost to a qualifier at Wimbledon. Dokic went on to reach the quarterfinals of that competition, only her second Grand Slam championship.
Dokic rapidly ascended through the rankings after her Wimbledon breakthrough, but her time in the world elite was beset by off-court struggles. Her relationship with her outspoken father and coach Damir Dokić, on whose advice she switched allegiance to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in November 2000, was the subject of much media speculation over many years. She switched back to Australia in 2005. Dokic made a serious return to tennis in 2008 and finished 2009 back in the WTA top 100, but thereafter struggled badly with form and injuries, and ceased playing professionally in 2014.
She wrote of physical and mental abuse by her father in her 2017 autobiography Unbreakable. In November 2024, a feature-length documentary film based on the book, titled Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story, was released in Australian cinemas.
Early life and education Jelena Dokić was born on 12 April 1983 in Osijek, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia, to a Serb father, Damir Dokić, and a Croat mother, Ljiljana (née Podnar). She has a younger brother, Savo, eight years her junior.
Her family lived in Osijek until June 1991 when, due to the instability of the breakup of Yugoslavia, they settled in Sombor, Serbia, for a short time before emigrating to Australia in 1994 when Dokić was 11 years of age. She has spoken of growing up in poverty, and at one time (after the family left Croatia for Serbia) they lived in a shed infested with rats.
Upon arrival in Australia they lived in Fairfield, a suburb of Sydney, where Dokić (later Dokic) attended Fairfield Public School without knowing any English when she started, and then Fairfield High School.
From the time she first picked up a tennis racket as a young child, through becoming a tennis champion as a teenager, and then through most of her career, her father was violent and abusive towards her, taking all of her winnings, and beating her frequently.
Tennis career
Juniors In 1998, she won the US Open girls' singles title and the French Open doubles with Kim Clijsters, ending the season ranked world No. 1 in the junior singles rankings and world No. 7 in doubles. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.
1999–2000: Major breakthrough Dokic started the year by teaming up with Mark Philippoussis to win the Hopman Cup title. Until 2016, it was Australia's lone victory at the event. She then received a wildcard into the Australian Open, losing to world No. 1, Martina Hingis, in two sets. At Wimbledon, Dokic had her breakthrough: As a qualifier, she caused an upset, defeating world No. 1 Hingis in the first round, in straight sets. Ranked No. 129 at the time, she was the lowest-ranked player to have defeated the top seed in a Grand Slam tournament in the Open era. She also defeated ninth-seeded Mary Pierce in straight sets, before losing in three to Alexandra Stevenson in the quarterfinals. Dokic also reached her first WTA Tour doubles final with Amanda Coetzer in Tokyo. During 1999, she jumped 298 spots, finishing the year at world No. 43.
Dokic was defeated in the first round of the 2000 Australian Open by Rita Kuti-Kis of Hungary. After the match, Dokic said, "I lost to a player who has never been a player and, I guess, probably never will be." During the spring clay court season, Dokic reached the quarterfinals of the Tier I events in Hilton Head, South Carolina and Rome (upsetting Venus Williams en route), as well as earning Fed Cup victories over Kim Clijsters, Anna Kournikova and Sandrine Testud, respectively. However, Dokic lost in the second round at the French Open.
Her successes at Wimbledon continued; she advanced to the semifinals where she lost to Lindsay Davenport. She reached the fourth round of the US Open and lost to Serena Williams, after holding two set points in the first-set tiebreaker. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, representing Australia, she lost to Monica Seles in the bronze medal match. In doubles, she teamed with Rennae Stubbs, but lost in the second round. Dokic finished the year at world No. 26.
2001: First career titles and top 10 Beginning with the Australian Open, she began playing for Yugoslavia. Her father, Damir, claimed irregularities in the draw after her first-round loss to Lindsay Davenport and was banned from the tournament due to abusive behaviour. Damir later said, "I think the draw is fixed just for her". This resulted in intense media speculation then and over the years.
After the Australian Open, her family moved to the United States. In May, she won her first singles title in the Rome Masters, defeating Amélie Mauresmo in the final 7–6, 6–1. Later that year in doubles, she teamed with Conchita Martínez to reach the final of the French Open, where they were defeated by Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez, in straight sets.2001 French Open – Women's draws and results at the International Tennis Federation
Later that year in singles, she reached five finals, winning two titles, in Tokyo (defeating former world No. 1 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario), and the Kremlin Cup (defeating Elena Dementieva). She also won her second title in doubles in Linz, with Nadia Petrova, and qualified for the WTA Tour Championships in singles, reaching the quarterfinals. She finished the year as the world No. 8. The Yugoslav Olympic Committee declared her its Athlete of the Year for 2001.
2002: Highest ranking
Dokic reached the final of the Open Gaz de France, where she was forced to hand a walkover to Venus Williams, after her first victory over Monica Seles a day earlier, due to a right thigh strain suffered in her win. In April, she won her fourth singles title in Sarasota, Florida, defeating Tatiana Panova in the final. At the Hamburg event, Dokic collected a straight-set win over Justine Henin, before having to retire in the semifinals. Dokic was unable to defend her Italian Open title, losing to 11th-seeded Anastasia Myskina in the third round.
In Strasbourg, she reached her fifth final, losing to Silvia Farina Elia. At the French Open, she was defeated by top-seeded Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals. Dokic then won her fifth career singles title in Birmingham, defeating Myskina in the final in two sets. She then lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon to Daniela Hantuchová.
After Wimbledon, Dokic reached the final of the Acura Classic in San Diego, scoring her first win over Jennifer Capriati in a three-set match. In the final, she was defeated by Venus Williams. She also reached the semifinals of Los Angeles, losing to Chanda Rubin, and Montreal, notching a victory over Martina Hingis, before retiring hurt against Capriati. Despite a loss to Elena Bovina in the second round of the US Open, Dokic reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 4. She then reached the semifinals in Salvador, Bahia and Tokyo. Dokic again qualified for the WTA Tour Championships, losing in the quarterfinals to Serena Williams. She finished the year ranked world No. 9 in singles.
In doubles, Dokic won titles in Sarasota (with Elena Likhovtseva), Los Angeles (with Kim Clijsters) and Linz (with Nadia Petrova), as well as reaching the finals of Moscow and Zürich (both with Petrova). This success resulted in her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 10.
2003–2005: Out of top 10 In 2003, Dokic hired Borna Bikić from Croatia to replace her father as her trainer whom she accused of "wrecking her career", after several outbursts and volatile behavior at tennis tournaments. By this time, she had also been estranged from her family due to a brief relationship with Brazilian racing driver Enrique Bernoldi. She played 30 events, reaching one final, one semifinal and seven quarterfinals. At Wimbledon she narrowly lost in the third round 4–6, 4–6 to a 16-year-old Maria Sharapova. At Zürich, she beat the then-world No. 1 player Clijsters, but lost to Henin in the final. She and Petrova also reached a final in doubles in Rome. She played in the 2004 Fed Cup for the Serbia and Montenegro team and achieved two wins.
In mid-2004, Dokic returned to her family in Serbia to attempt a reconciliation. In November 2005, after a turbulent period of 4–5 months during which she cancelled all her tennis commitments and not even her family knew her whereabouts, she returned to Australia proclaiming, "I am an Australian, I feel like an Australian and I want to play for Australia again." She later identified her switch to Yugoslavia as the biggest regret of her career, saying that her father was subjecting her to extreme physical and mental abuse at the time and he made the decision for him.
2006–2008: ITF Circuit Representing Australia for the first time in five years, Dokic received a wildcard into the Auckland Open in Auckland, but lost her first-round match to Julia Schruff, hitting 51 unforced errors and 28 double faults. Dokic then earned a wildcard berth at the Australian Open after winning the wildcard playoff. She held a match point on her opponent Virginie Razzano's serve and hit a forehand winner that caught the line, only to have the umpire rule the ball out. She went on to lose the match, hitting over 70 unforced errors.
Later that year, Dokic played in the qualifying tournament for Wimbledon, where she received a wildcard but suffered a three-set loss to Alexandra Stevenson. Under the guidance of new coach Nikola Pilić, after over three months away from the tour due to injury, Dokic qualified for a $10k tournament and reached the semifinals of the main draw before losing to Astrid Besser. In November 2006, Dokic denied reports from her father that she had been kidnapped by her boyfriend, Tin Bikić.
In her interview, she said she would not play in the 2007 Australian Open because she was not ready and her aim was to get back into the top 30. Shortly after, Dokic left the Nikola Pilić Tennis Academy. She was due to sign a contract to be in the academy for a year, but instead returned to Borna Bikić, her coach. Dokic said she was not satisfied with the contract Pilić's academy offered her. After withdrawing from several ITF events in the early 2007, Dokic lost in the early rounds of two $10k events in Rome. She then continued to withdraw from events. Back in Australia on 17 October, Dokic released a statement through Tennis Australia that she would use their facilities in an attempt to make a comeback.
Dokic said she had not felt "within herself" to play during 2007 but was now ready to put in the hard work necessary to get back to the top. She cited Mary Pierce, Jennifer Capriati and Andre Agassi as inspirational figures for her goal of reaching the highest echelons of tennis once more. Dokic's long-awaited return to tennis came during the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff, where she was hoping to earn a place in the first major of 2008. She emerged from the round-robin stage with a 3–0 record before retiring in her quarterfinal match while trailing 6–3, 3–1 due to a thigh strain.