Jelena Dokic’s estranged father Damir Dokic has died

Retired grand slam Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic has revealed her estranged father Damir Dokic has died.

Retired Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic’s estranged ­father and former coach Damir Dokic has died.

The former world No. 4, who survived physical and emotional abuse at her father’s hands before going on to careers as a tennis commentator and author, wrote on Instagram last night that Damir had died late on May 16.

“As you know my relationship with my father has been difficult and painful with a lot of history,” Jelena wrote.

Damir Dokic with her daughter tennis player Jelena Dokic at Australian Open tournament press conference in Melbourne, 2000.

“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.”

Jelena, 42, shared a picture of herself with her father in happier times and said she was experiencing “lots of conflicting and complex emotions and feelings”.

Jelena Dokic’s social media post she shared of her as a child with her father after announcing his death. Picture: Instagram

“For the end of this chapter, I choose to focus on a good memory like this picture,” she wrote. “And as always and 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. For now, I will leave it there. Please respect mine and the rest of my family’s privacy at this time.

“Thank you to so many of you for checking in on me over the last few days and for being here for me while I navigate this difficult and complicated situation. My final words. RIP.”

Jelena did not reveal the cause of Damir’s death but The Australian reported that he was understood to be battling cancer.

Jelena Dokic with her father Damir at White City in Sydney in 2000. Picture: Kristi Miller.

Damir died the day after The Daily Telegraph published a Mental as Anyone Podcast interview in which Jelena ­revealed she was looking at adopting a child.

She said she could say with “100” per cent certainty she would not be like Damir as a parent.

With her father as her coach, Jelena entered the tennis circuit at age 16 in 1999 as a qualifier at Wimbledon, where she beat tennis legend Martina Hingis before going on to reach the quarter-finals.

A year later, she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon.

But her father frequently caused trouble and created headlines at major events, including being banned from the US Open after fighting about the price of fish.

Australian tennis player Jelena Dokic with father Damir during practice at Wimbledon in 1999.

While she eventually split from his coaching, her career never regained those early heights.

Damir was later sentenced to jail on charges that he threatened the Australian ambassador Claire Birgin while in a rage over claims Jelena made in a magazine about how he physically abused her in Serbia.

Prison guards escort Damir Dokic to the courtroom for the retrial, in Ruma, northwest of Belgrade, Serbia. Picture: AP

Damir was originally found guilty of “endangering the security” of Ms Birgin in Belgrade and of illegally keeping a stash of weapons, including a home-made bomb. They were discovered during a police search of his home.

But a retrial was ordered because a judge found there had been errors in the first trial. His sentence was reduced to one year.

Jelena was born in the former Yugoslavia to a Serbian father and Croatian mother, Ljiljana, and has a younger brother eight years her junior.

Her heartbreaking story continues to move Australians, but while she recently said doesn’t hate her father, she could never forgive him for the physical and mental torment she faced.

Jelena Dokic with her father Damir, mother Liliana and brother Zavo.

A year later, she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon - her best-ever Grand Slam result.

Her father Damir made her turn her back on Australia and switch to play for Yugoslavia.

She was brutally booed at the Australian Open in 2001 by those who blamed her. She was 17 at the time.

From there, her career deteriorated with her father largely to blame.

The tennis world supported her.

Jelena was also recently the star of the critically acclaimed documentary feature film, Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story, that won a prestigious award at the Screen Producers Awards.

Jelena Dokic is loved by millions of fans around the world.

It was co-directed and co-written by The Australian’s chief sports writer Jessica Halloran and In Films Ivan O’Mahoney.

Despite facing a tumultuous childhood, she still has hopes of having a family one day.

“I actually think I would be a good mum, to be honest,” Jelena said on the podcast Mental As Anyone.

“I love kids.”

But, despite that, she sadly admitted her parenting dream may not come true.

“I don’t think that that’s going to happen for me,” she said.

“I was in a relationship for almost 19 years from the age of 20 and right up to when we split up, we were about to start trying for a family.”

Originally published as Jelena Dokic’s estranged father Damir Dokic has died