Australian ex-tennis star Jelena Dokic says estranged father Damir dead

Damir Dokic, father of Australian tennis player Jelena Dokic, is escorted by police from the media balcony at Wimbledon in 2000, following an incident with a reporter. Photo / Getty Images

The famously volatile father of Australian former tennis star Jelena Dokic has died, she said on Wednesday, calling her grief “difficult and complicated”.

Dokic, who rose to a career-high No 4 in the world in 2002, struggled for years as a young player to escape the overbearing influence of her father, Damir.

He was her coach before the pair had a well-documented split.

The family rift followed a series of bizarre episodes including Damir being banned from Wimbledon and at one point claiming his daughter had been kidnapped.

Dokic, who has worked as a television commentator since retiring from playing in 2014, announced his death on Instagram.

“My father passed away in the late hours on 16.05.2025,” the 42-year-old wrote under a picture of herself as a small child and with her bearded father draping an arm across her.

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

“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.”

In 2009, Damir was charged with threatening the Australian ambassador to Serbia and illegal possession of firearms, and served a year in jail.

In 2011, Dokic said she had reunited with her father, but they later became estranged once more.

In June 2022, Dokic revealed that she came close to taking her own life just a few weeks earlier.

Dokic sprang to prominence at Wimbledon in 1999 when she stunned world No 1 Martina Hingis in the first round.

Dokic won six WTA singles titles during her career and reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2000.

“It is an end of a chapter and life as I know it,” she added in her post on Wednesday.

“There are lots of conflicting and complex emotions and feelings for me.”