Former world number four tennis player Jelena Dokic says her father and former coach Damir has died.
She announced on social media that he died on May 16.
Damir Dokic gained notoriety for his controlling behavior during his daughter’s career and Jelena later revealed that he physically and emotionally abused her.
Jelena, who said she hadn’t spoken with her father in many years, said she was trying to focus on good memories.
“My relationship with my father was difficult and painful, with a lot of history,” she wrote.
“Despite everything and no matter how hard, difficult and even non-existent our relationship and communication has been over the past 10 years, it is never easy to lose a parent and father, even if they are separated.
“The loss of a separated parent comes with difficult and complicated grief.”
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Jelena noted that Damir’s death had stirred up “a lot of conflicting and complex emotions and feelings.”
“For the end of this chapter, I chose to focus on a good memory like this photo,” she said.
“And as always and especially important to who I am as a person and what I want to stand for, which is respect, grace, kindness, dignity and empathy, I will be and want to be that person in this situation too.“
Jelena requested privacy for herself and her family and ended her message with “RIP.”
Years of abuse
Damir became a notorious and controversial figure on tour throughout his daughter’s rise from junior sensation to world number four and Wimbledon semi-finalist.
It was in 2009 that Jelena Dokic revealed that Damir had physically attacked her when she was growing up. The revelation sparked a furious response from Damir, who threatened to blow up the car of the Australian ambassador to Serbia.
Damir was arrested for uttering threats and possession of illegal weapons. He insisted the threats were “a joke” and that the weapons found in his home were a “souvenir” of the war in Croatia.
In her 2017 autobiography, Unbreakable, Dokic said her father beat her so badly that she lost consciousness, while subjecting her to a torrent of verbal abuse throughout her childhood.
Dokic claims her father whipped her with a leather belt because of a “poor workout (or) loss, bad mood,” and also spat in her face, pulled her hair and ears, while kicking her in the shins with pointy shoes.
Jelena, who has two books and a documentary in which she details the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, is now a tennis expert and commentator after retiring in 2014.
ABC/PAA
