Jelena Dokic

• Date of birth: April 12, 1983 
• Birthplace: Belgrade, Serbia
• Residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco
• Height:  5' 9'' (1.75 m)
• Weight: 132 lbs. (60 kg)
• Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
• Turned Pro: 1998

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Jelena Dokic (pronounced roughly YELL-en-a DO-kich) (born 12 April 1983) is a female professional tennis player who has played for both Australia and Serbia and Montenegro (FR Yugoslavia prior to February 2003), and currently plays for Australia. Her career-high ranking is No. 4 (on August 19, 2002), but by the end of 2005 had slipped to 349th place in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles rankings. As of May 28, 2007, Dokic is 650th in the WTA rankings.

The high points of Dokic's career include beating No. 1 ranked Martina Hingis in the first round of Wimbledon in 1999, Kim Clijsters (also ranked No.1 at the time) at the 2003 Zürich Open (October) as well as Venus Williams in Rome 2000. She was ranked No. 4 in 2002 (a career high), No. 14 in 2003, and No. 25 in 2004. 

Family life

Jelena was born to a Serbian family in the Croatian town of Osijek (then in Yugoslavia) as an eldest child of Damir and Ljiljana Dokic. She has a younger brother, Savo. At the start of the war in Croatia in June 1991, her family moved away to Sombor, Serbia, and later, in 1994, emigrated to Australia. From 1994, they lived in Fairfield, a suburb of Sydney; where she attended Fairfield High School. 

Tennis career

Dokic was an accomplished junior player. In 1998, she won the US Open girls singles title, and the French Open doubles with Kim Clijsters, ending the season ranked number 1 in in the International Tennis Federation junior singles world ranking and number 7 in doubles.

In 1999, Dokic made her professional breakthrough. As a qualifier at Wimbledon, she made one of the biggest upsets in Open Era tennis, defeating then No. 1 Martina Hingis 6-2 6-0, in the first round. Then No. 129, she was the lowest-ranked player to have defeated the No. 1 seed in a Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era. She also defeated No. 9 seed Mary Pierce in straight sets, before losing in the quarter-finals to Alexandra Stevenson. The same year, together with Mark Philippoussis, she won Australia's first Hopman Cup title, and also won her first WTA doubles title with Amanda Coetzer. That year she jumped 298 spots, finishing the year at No. 43.

In 2000, her success at Wimbledon continued. She reached the semi-finals, before losing to Lindsay Davenport 6-4 6-2. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, she lost to Monica Seles in the bronze medal match 6-1 6-4. She finished the year at No. 26. 

2001

From the 2001 Australian Open, she began playing for Yugoslavia. Her father, Damir, claimed irregularities in the draw, after her first-round loss to Lindsay Davenport and her father's ban from the tennis tournament due to abusive behavior. Damir later said "I think the draw is fixed just for her" 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⁽³⁾ 6-1. Later that year, together with Conchita Martinez, she reached the finals of the French Open, but was defeated by Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez in straights sets.

Later in the year, she reached five finals, winning two titles, in Tokyo (defeating former No. 1 player Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario), and the Kremlin Cup (def. Elena Dementieva). She also won her second title in doubles, in Linz, with Nadia Petrova. She also qualified in WTA Tour Championships in singles, reaching the quarter-finals. She finished the year at No. 8.

2002

Dokic started her 2002 season at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, in Japan, losing to Anne Kremer in the second round. She was also defeated by Kramer in the third round at both Indian Wells and the Miami Masters. In February, she reached her career high doubles ranking, No. 10. In the final of the Open Gaz de France, she was forced to hand a walkover to Venus Williams due to a right thigh strain suffered in her win over Monica Seles in the semi-finals. The following week in Antwerp, she again suffered a right thigh strain, which forced her to retire during the second round, and again in April in the semi-finals in Amelia Island and Hamburg.

In April, she won her third singles title and her second in doubles (with Likhovtseva) in Sarasota, Florida. Dokic was unable to defend her Rome Masters title, losing to No. 11 seed Anastasia Myskina in the 3rd round. In Strasbourg, she reached her fifth final, losing to Silvia Farina Elia.

At the 2002 French Open, she was defeated by No. 1 seed Jennifer Capriati in the quarter-finals, 6-4 4-6 6-1. After Wimbledon, she reached two finals, in Birmingham and San Diego (d. by Myskina and V. Williams). Later that summer, she reached her career high ranking in singles, No. 4.

In Los Angeles, she teamed-up with her junior doubles partner, Kim Clijsters to win her third doubles title. In October, she defended her title in Linz, with Nadia Petrova.

At the Canada Masters, Bahia, and the Toyota Princess Cup, she reached the semi-finals, losing to top 5 ranked players at each. Dokic again qualified for WTA Tour Championships, losing in the quarter-finals to Serena Williams. She finished the year at No. 9.

2003

Despite these early successes, after parting ways with her erratic father Damir, who was also her coach, her career problems began. In 2003, she hired Borna Bikic from Croatia to be her trainer (while simultaneously dating his brother Tin), contrary to the wishes of her father Damir on both counts. Her tennis suffered and her slide down the standings continued.

A string of disappointing 1st or 2nd round exits commenced as she clearly suffered from severe loss of confidence. No longer a part of her life physically, her father continued to be a presence as he publicly criticised her choices. At one stage, he termed her boyfriend Enrique Bernoldi, a former Formula One driver with whom she lived at the time, "an idiot".

She played matches at 30 events, reaching one final, one SF and seven QF. At Zurich, she beat the then No.1 tennis player, Kim Clijsters, later to lose to Justine Henin in finals. She also reached a final in doubles, in Rome with Nadia Petrova.

2004-2005

In mid-2004, Jelena returned to her family in Serbia, trying to put her life back in order and regain confidence. However, the attempt was unsuccessful, and in November 2005, after a turbulent period of 4–5 months during which she canceled all her tennis commitments and not even her family knew her whereabouts, she returned to Australia proclaiming, "I want to play for Australia again".

2006

Representing Australia for the first time in 5 years, Doki? received a wild card into the ASB Classic in Auckland in January. However, she lost her first round match to Julia Schruff, 5–7 7–6(3) 6–1, hitting 51 unforced errors and 28 double faults. Doki? then earned a wildcard berth at the 2006 Australian Open, after winning the wildcard playoff. She held a match point on her opponent Virginie Razzano's serve, and hit what she thought was a forehand winner, only to have the umpire overrule the ball out. She went on to lose the match, 3–6 7–6(6) 6–1, hitting over 70 unforced errors. Later in the year, Doki? played in the qualifying the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, where she received a wildcard. However, she suffered a 4–6 7–6(4) 6–2 loss to Alexandra Stevenson. Under the guidance of new coach Nikola Pilic, after over 3 months away from the tour due to injury, Doki? qualified for a $10,000 tournament, and reached the semifinals of the maindraw before losing 3–6 6–3 7–6(5) to Astrid Besser. In late November 2006, Jelena denied reports from her father, Damir Dokic, that she had been kidnapped by her boyfriend, Tin Biki?. In her interview she said she would not play in the Australian Open because she wasn't ready, and her aim was to get back into the top 30. Shortly after, Jelena left the Nikola Pili? tennis academy. She was due to sign a contract to be in the academy for a year, but she instead returned to Borna Biki?, her coach. Jelena said she was not satisfied with the contract Pili?'s Academy offered her.

2007

After withdrawing from several ITF events in the early months of 2007, Jelena played in two $10,000 events in Rome, but lost in the early rounds to low-ranked players. Jelena then continued to withdraw from events, allegedly due to a wrist injury which had been troubling her for some time. Back in Australia on October 17, Dokic released a statement through Tennis Australia, that she would be using their facilities in an attempt to make a successful comeback. She said that she had not felt "within herself" to play during the 2007 season, 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 to follow towards her goal of reaching the highest echelons of tennis once more. Dokic's long awaited return to tennis came during the 2007 Australian Open Wildcard Playoff, where she was hoping to earn a wildcard into the first Grand Slam of 2008. Dokic emerged from the round robin stage with a 3–0 record, before retiring in her quarterfinal match trailing 6–3 3–1 due to a thigh strain.

2008

Dokic received a wildcard for the qualifications of the Moorilla Hobart International, where she won four matches to reach the second round of the maindraw, where she retired in her match against Flavia Pennetta due to an ankle injury. Jelena received a qualifying wildcard into the Australian Open, but her run unfortunately short lived as she was knocked out in the second round.

After a three month layoff, Jelena finally returned to action at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem tournament in Fes where she qualified but lost in the first round against Greta Arn. Dokic had visibly shed off several pounds and looked fit during the tournament.

She then entered the following week in a $25K tournament in Florence, Italy, where she successfully qualified and proceeded to win the tournament, saving two match points against Mirjana Lucic in the quarterfinals and defeating seventh seed Lucie Hradecka in the final, 6-1 6-3. This was her first ITF title of her career.

source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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