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Damir Dokic, the father and former coach of Australian tennis player and commentator Jelena Dokic, who gained notoriety for his abusive and violent behavior, has passed away.
Jelena Dokic announced in a social media post this evening that her father died on May 16.
“My relationship with my father has been difficult and painful with a lot of history,” she said.
“Despite everything and no matter how hard, difficult and in the last 10 years, even non-existent our relationship and communication was, it is never easy losing a parent and a father, even one you are estranged from.
“The loss of an estranged parent comes with a difficult and complicated grief.
“It’s an end of a chapter and life as I know it.
“There are lots of conflicting and complex emotions and feelings for me…
“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 and want to be that person in this situation too.”
Jelena accused her father of committing years of physical and mental abuse against her in her 2017 autobiography Unbreakable.
“It basically started day one of me playing tennis,” she said when the book was released.
“It continued on from there. It spiralled out of control.”
She wrote that Damir’s abuse included beating her to the point of unconsciousness following a loss at the du Maurier Open in Canada in 2000, repeatedly whipping her with a leather belt, and hurling vile slurs such as a “slut” and “whore” towards her as a teenager.
Damir was also known for his violent and threatening behaviour towards others.
In 2009, he was sentenced to 15 months in jail for threatening to kill the then-Australian ambassador to Serbia with a grenade launcher after heavily armed police arrested him and confiscated an arsenal of weapons that included two homemade bombs.
He claimed the threat was a joke and the bombs a souvenir from the Croatian War of Independence, which he fought on the side of Serbia in.
The Dokics arrived in Australia from Yugoslavia in 1994, and Jelena reached a career-high tennis ranking of no.4 in the world for her adopted country aged just 19, before Damir forced her to switch her allegiance back in 2001.
She also revealed she hadn’t spoken to her father in 10 years, but that she didn’t hate or resent him.
“I’m not bitter about it,” she said.
“Even to my father, which people find surprising. I don’t necessarily forgive him, but I don’t hate him.”
Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.
