Jelena Dokić (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Докић) (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, Dokić is 650th in the WTA rankings.
Dokić 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 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.
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.
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.
Dokić 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.
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.
At the Canada Masters, Bahia, and the Toyota Princess Cup, she reached the semi-finals, losing to top 5 ranked players at each. Dokić again qualified for WTA Tour Championships, losing in the quarter-finals to Serena Williams. She finished the year at No. 9.
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 Bikić 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.
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".
In June, Dokić turned down a wild card in Zagreb and instead played in the qualifying rounds of the $25K event in Gorizia. She beat the sixteenth seed Michaela Johansson, Giulia Gatto-Monticone, and world number 325 Olga Panova. She then won her first round match against Maria-Vanina Garcia-Sokol, before losing to Romanian Madalina-Victorita Gojnea.
Later that month, Dokić played at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships. She gained entry into the qualifying draw via a wild-card entry, due to her past successes. However, she was defeated in the first qualifying round 4-6 7-6(4) 6-2 by Alexandra Stevenson after serving for the match at 6-4 5-4. She then declined a main-draw wild card in Martina Franca, Italy, and pulled out of tournaments in Hechingen, Germany, and Rimini, Italy.
Under the guidance of new coach Nikola Pilić, after over 3 months away from the tour due to injury, Dokić qualified for a $10K tournament defeating Mika Urbancic and Lynn Blau. In the main draw, she advanced to the semifinals, losing to Astrid Besser of Italy 3-6 6-3 7-6(5), who went on to win the final.
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 academy. She was due to sign a contract to be in the academy for a year, but she instead returned to Borna Bikić, her coach. Jelena said she was not satisfied with the contract Pilić's Academy offered her.
Jelena Dokic
Jelena Dokic
Jelena Dokic
Jelena Dokic
Jelena Dokic
Jelena Dokic
Jelena Dokic
Jelena Dokic
Jelena Dokic vs Lucie Safarova GDF Suez 2011 Highlights
Kim Clijsters vs Jelena Dokic 2011 GDF Suez QF Highlights
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