Despite her sporting achievements, including reaching the Wimbledon semifinals in 2000, Jelena Dokic‘s career was plagued by physical and emotional abuse from her father, Damir Dokic. In her latest Instagram post, the retired tennis star documents the shocking severity of bruises and scars on her body.
The former world No.4 Dokic has been open about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. In her autobiography, “Unbreakable,” she detailed the violence she endured, including being beaten with a thick leather belt that “felt as sharp as a knife.” A mediocre training session, a loss, a bad mood — anything could trigger her father to slice her skin with his dreadful belt.
In a recent social media post, the Serbian-born Australian showed a photo from the 2000 US Open, drawing attention to the evident signs of trauma on her legs even though the photo was taken two weeks after the beating had happened. She wrote, “Swollen, bruised and bleeding shins from being beaten and kicked all night with sharp shoes right into my shins for losing a match.” She was only 17 years old at the time, while even now as a 39-year-old she still has sensitive and bumpy shins from this particular beating.
Years later, in 2022, Dokic
