‘This is my legacy’: Jelena Dokic is helping others regain their power

Jelena Dokic turned up the glamour as she stepped out for the Melbourne premiere of her powerful documentary Unbreakable, saying she’s happier than ever.

Jelena Dokic is happier than ever surrounded by love, joy and inspiration as her documentary launched in Melbourne on Sunday.

The former tennis ace, whose story of surviving domestic violence and abuse is told in Unbreakable, says helping others regain their power is her life’s passion.

“The direction I’m going in is extremely positive,’’ Dokic said.

“It’s the happiest I’ve ever been. It’s because of things like this and being able to find power in vulnerability. I think that changes your whole perspective and you embrace who you are and it’s coming across that way too.

“I can’t even say this makes my day or makes my year, it makes my life because this is my legacy and why I do things. I’m so passionate about it that even when I get one great feedback it means the world to me.”

Jelena Dokic at the Astor Theatre for her Melbourne documentary screening.

Dokic attended the world premiere of Unbreakable in Brisbane on November 3 and has also been to the launch in Sydney.

She said attending in Melbourne at the Astor Theatre was special because she’s lived here for almost a decade.

“It’s been incredible, I’m on a high that I don’t even need to sleep at the moment,’’ she said.

A still of a young Dokic from Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story.

“That’s how much love I’m getting from everyone. Whether it’s media or social media or even people coming up to me at the premieres. It means a lot to me because that’s what I’m doing it for, this is not even about me, even the books, it’s for someone who may be struggling or doesn’t feel like they have a voice.

Unbreakable is now in cinemas.

“Melbourne to be honest I’m nervous about even more. I’ve lived here for the last eight or nine years straight. It’s special because I have a lot of friends here and have a lot of things close to my heart here like the tennis.”

Dokic, who was subjected to years of brutal abuse at the hands of her father, said she couldn’t watch until close to the final edit with directors Ivan O’Mahoney and Jessica Halloran.

“At one stage we had 400-500 hours of footage and try putting that into two hours,’’ she said.

“The first rough cut was about 10 hours, it’s really difficult. Sometimes one sentence or one little thing can make a massive impact on what you see. It was a lot of work by a lot of people and I didn’t even want to see it until one of those final versions was ready.

“I knew it was going to be a lot of back and forth and five years in the making and we’re here. I’m very proud because just like with the book, not a lot of people believed in it. Not that they didn’t want to do it but those are the hard stories we tell and sometimes people think it’s going to be too sad. It’s very important.”

Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story is in cinemas now.