Dokic says she hasn't spoken to father for years (AP) Updated: 2006-01-20 11:03
MELBOURNE, Australia - Jelena Dokic said Thursday that she has not spoken to
her father in several years and is trying to distance herself from him.
Dokic, who lost her first-round match at the Australian Open, recently
returned to Melbourne from her native Serbia-Montenegro, reversing a 2001
decision to leave Australia.
Damir Dokic, her father, was quoted in newspaper reports from Serbia that he
planned to kidnap Jelena. He also threatened to kill an Australian who helped
his daughter return to the country, and vowed revenge against the country by
bombing it.
He apparently later denied making those statements when contacted by an
Australian radio station.
On Thursday, Jelena Dokic, through her London-based management company,
released a statement in Melbourne calling her father's comments "yet another
unfortunate distraction around my return to Australia and competitive tennis."
"I have spent my life recovering from events such as this," she said. "I will
continue to work very hard on getting back to the top of my game and putting
comments like these firmly behind me."
The 22-year-old Dokic said she had not spoken to her father for several
years, "and we do not agree on anything."
"This is not the first time he has made threats publicly to my well-being so
I am not going to allow this latest episode to disrupt my future happiness," she
said. "I wish to distance myself totally from his reported views."
Jelena Dokic said she has been encouraged by the reaction to her return. In
her first-round loss, the Australian crowd at Melbourne Park was firmly behind
her.
"I have been overwhelmed by the support and friendship I have been shown by
the Australian public since I returned in December which has proven to me that
the decision to come back was the right one," said Dokic.
A Wimbledon semifinalist in 2000, Dokic won a wild-card playoff for the
Australian Open. She decided to play again for Australia after renouncing her
former home in 2001 and taking up citizenship of her native Serbia-Montenegro.
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