Jelena Dokic life and biography

Jelena Dokić is an Australian female professional tennis player.

During the height of her career, she played for Serbia and Montenegro (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia prior to February 2003) and reached a career-high ranking of World No. 4 on 19 August 2002. After several family-related difficulties (mostly involving her father), she slowly slipped down the rankings in 2006. She made a serious return to tennis in 2008, and after winning three ITF tournaments that year, rose to World No. 187 going into the 2009 Australian Open. She finished 2009 in the top 100, but declined in 2010. Her current 2011 season has seen a resurgence in Dokic's form and abilities.

CAREER:

2011:
Dokic started her 2011 campaign by receiving three main draw wildcards during the Australian summer, in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. She comfortably won her first match in Brisbane 6–4, 6–3 against qualifier Anastasia Pivovarova but then lost to in-form, eventual finalist, Andrea Petkovic 0–6, 1–6. After the match Dokic cited a stomach virus as the reason to the loss. In Sydney, she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova by 2–6, 2–6 in the first round.

In the Australian Open, Dokic easily dispatched Czech Zuzana Ondrášková 6–3, 6–2 in the first round, but fell to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 6–7(3), 1–6 in the second round. She also received wildcard to participate in doubles, partnering with Sally Peers where they faced sixteenth seed, Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin, in the first round. The pair lost 1–6, 4–6.

At the 2011 Open GDF Suez in Paris, Dokic won all three qualifying matches for a spot in the main draw. Dokic then upset the 30th ranked Lucie Šafářová, a 2010 finalist, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 for a spot in the second round. This victory was Dokic's first victory over a top 30 player since the 2009 Australian Open. She backed up her strong performance by defeating fifth seed, and former doubles partner, Nadia Petrova in straight sets, 6–4, 7–6(4), in the second round to advance to her first WTA quarterfinals appearance since the 2009 Australian Open. However, her run ended after Kim Clijsters beat her 3–6, 0–6, despite leading 3-0 in the first set, in a victory that brought Clijsters back to world no.1. Nevertheless, Dokic's strong performance in the Premier event brought Dokic back to the top 100, at no. 91, and a main draw wildcard of the 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships.

In the first round of Dubai, Dokic, hindered by illness, committed 41 unforced errors and 11 double faults to give victory to an in-form Flavia Pennetta losing 2–6, 2–6. Following the loss, Dokic traveled to Doha to participate at the qualifying draw of 2011 Qatar Ladies Open. She comfortably won her first match but lost in the second match to fellow Australian, Jarmila Groth.

Dokic then traveled to Kuala Lumpur where she scored her biggest win of the year by upsetting World No. 5, 2010 French Open Champion, and top seed Francesca Schiavone 2–6, 7–6(1), 6–4 in the first round, despite serving 15 double faults. This is her first win against a top 5 player since 2003, where she defeated then world number one player Kim Clijsters in Zurich. She then defeated Japan's Kurumi Nara in the second round, 3–6, 7–6(6), 6–2, to advance to her second WTA quarterfinal this year. She reinforced this win by upsetting an in-form Bojana Jovanovski, the eighth seed, in straight sets 7–6(4),6–2. This victory saw Dokic advance to her first WTA semi-finals since Toray Pan Pacific Open in Japan in February 2004. Dokic faced a resurgent Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands, who had defeated defending champion Alisa Kleybanova in the second round and prevailed 6–2, 6–3 to advance to her first WTA singles final since the Zürich Open in October 2003. She concluded the tournament by beating Lucie Safarova 2–6, 7–6(9), 6–4 in the final after saving two championships points in the second set tiebreak and being down 1–3 in the final set. This was Dokić's first WTA title under Australian flag and first since June 2002 where she won the DFS Classic, in Birmingham. Her strong performance rose her ranking to world no. 61.

Originally electing to strategically skip the qualifying stage of Indian Wells to compete in an ITF $100,000 tournament in the Bahamas, Dokic then withdrew from the ITF $100,000 tournament. Dokic's next tournament was Miami where she had to play the qualifying round. Dokic won both of her matches against Tatjana Malek and Christina McHale to advance to the main draw. In the main draw, Dokic fell to a resugent former World No. 1, Dinara Safina in two close sets 4–6,4–6.

Dokic then started her clay season campaign by participating at Charleston, where she was upset in the first round by qualifier Anna Tatishvili, in three close sets, 5–7, 6–2, 4–6. She then participated at Fes as the sixth seed but was forced to withdraw due to a viral illness. This also subsequently forced Dokic to withdraw from Estoril.

Singles Titles
2002: Sarasota, Birmingham
2001: Rome, Tokyo, Moscow

Doubles Titles
2002: Sarasota, Los Angeles, Linz
2001: Linz

PERSONAL:

Previously coached by Heinz Guenthardt and Borna Bikic
Father's name is Damir; mother's name is Liliana; brother, Savo, eight years younger, has a black belt in tae kwon do
Emigrated to Australia from Serbia with her family in 1994
Enjoys shopping, music and the beach
Likes to visit Rome, Paris
Self-described as friendly, outgoing, open, and on-court as determined, motivated, competitive
Most memorable experience has been participating in the 2000 Olympics
Tennis person most admired is Steffi Graf.

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