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.

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.

Jelena was born to a Serbian family in the Croatian town of Osijek (then in Yugoslavia) as an eldest child of Damir and Ljiljana Dokić. 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.http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/dhbvg87/Encyclopedia1.htm

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 1999, Dokić 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.

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.

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.

In April, she won her third singles title and her second in doubles (with Likhovtseva) in Sarasota, Florida. Dokić 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. 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.

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.

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".

Representing Australia for the first time in 5 years, Dokić received a wild card into the ASB Classic in Auckland in January. She lost her first round match to Julia Schruff, 5-7 7-6⁽³⁾ 6-1, hitting 51 unforced errors and 28 double faults. Dokić then earned a wildcard berth at the 2006 Australian Open. 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.

Dokić didn't play again until April 10. After 3 months away from the game, she was beaten 7-5 7-5 by 18-year-old, 709th ranked Eleonora Punzo in the first qualifying round at the ITF circuit tournament (the level below the WTA tour) in Biarritz, France.

In May, the media reported that she was training in the Iva Majoli tennis academy.

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 late November 2006 Serbian press (mainly tabloids) reported her "mysterious disappearance" in Zagreb and that Dokić was "allegedly missing". An Australian news websitehttp://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20812123-2702,00.html ran a piece about this which was then carried by other sites including Eurosport. Damir Dokic, Jelena's controversial father had reported Jelena missing with Serbian police and claimed that Jelena "had been kidnapped" by her boyfriend, Tin Bikić. Her German coach Martin Ruftner added fuel to the fire by claiming he had been scheduled to meet Jelena at the Munich Airport on Sunday, 19th November but she did not show and did not call, which Ruftner claimed was "totally out of character" for Jelena.

Jelena Dokić slammed these allegations stating in Serbian sports daily Sportski žurnal that this was nothing but nonsense and that she was alive and well in Zagreb with her boyfriend and that she would soon be back at Nikola Pilić's Academy in Munich for a further 7 weeks of training before attempting a full-scale comeback on the ITF circuit in 2007. She also stated that she was no longer speaking with her father and hadn't been for some time.

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 withdrew from events in Stuttgart, Caprioli and Ortisei, Biberach and Buchen. She then lost early in the $10,000 events of Rome Real and Rome Panda 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 succesful 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 spoke to the media briefly, but will use Tennis Australia to keep fans updated on her progress.

Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-8 (quarter finals up to finalist).
*¹ The San Diego tournament achieved Tier I status from 2004. *² If qualifications, ITF women's circuit (Hardcourt: 9-4; Clay: 13-8; Grass: 7-1) and Fed Cup (4-1) participations are included, overall win-loss record stands at 236-156.

* *ITF junior profile for Jelena Dokic

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