Jelena Dokic
"There were many occasions in my career where I could have given up, where I asked myself whether I would ever make it."
Jelena Dokic is most well known for her tennis career and subsequent media profile as a tennis commentator. Yet despite her success on the court – where she was eventually ranked as fourth in the world in 2002 – there’s a lot more to her story than just the game.
Fortunately for fans, Jelena has written two non-fiction books discussing her life both on and off the court. She published the first, Unbreakable, in 2018, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for Non-Fiction that year, and which explains her miraculous survival story as a refugee from war-torn Yugoslavia. In her second release, Fearless, Jelena offers an inspirational work about learning not to give up, seeking help, and healing.
Her stories and words are admirable, both as sportswoman and as an Australian author.
Meet Jelena Dokic
Jelena Dokic was born in Croatia in 1983, where she lived for roughly eight years before her family moved to Serbia. They only stayed there for a few years due to the instability in the region, before they moved again – but this time to Sydney when Jelena was 11 years old.
It wasn’t long before she threw herself into tennis here in Australia, winning the US Open girls singles title at 15 years of age, and the French Open doubles with Kim Clijsters. In 1999 alone, she jumped 298 spots up the tennis world rankings, and finished the year in 43rd place.
Throughout the 2000s, Dokic competed at the top level of professional tennis, winning various minor tournaments and six Women’s Tennis Association tours, and playing in
numerous grand slams. Sadly, she was plagued by regular injuries and eventually retired in 2014.
Today, she is a regular tennis commentator and sports media personality, and has written for the Australian Tennis Magazine.