Jelena Dokic: Former tennis star slams trolls for offensive posts about her body at Australian Open

Brisbane, Australia
CNN
—

Former Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic has hit back at online trolls who she says bombarded her with negative comments about her body at the Australian Open.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Dokic, who works as a commentator for CNN affiliate 9 at the event, said the “‘body shaming’ and ‘fat shaming'” she received at the past 24 hours were “disgusting”.

“The most common comment being ‘what happened to her, she’s so fat’?” Dokic wrote. “I’ll tell you what happened, I find a way to survive and fight. And it doesn’t matter what I do and what happened, because size shouldn’t matter.

Dokic retired in 2014, after several career highs, including reaching the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 1999, aged just 16. A year later, she made the final four at Wimbledon.

In 2000, she represented Australia at the Sydney Olympics and also reached the Wimbledon semi-finals. His world ranking peaked at No. 4 after reaching the French Open quarter-finals in 2002.

But Dokic’s success on the pitch has come at a huge cost, as she revealed in her autobiography, ‘Unbreakable’, first published in 2018.

In the book, Dokic details the physical, verbal and mental abuse she says she suffered from her father and former coach, Damar Dokic.

Dokic severed ties with her father in 2002, leaving “in the middle of the night” with just her racquet bag and a suitcase, she said.

When the book was released, Dokic’s father did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. He told the Serbian daily Blic in 2009 that “there is no child who has not been beaten by his parents, like Jelena”.

In recent Instagram posts, the former tennis player said she won’t be silenced by bullies.

“I’m here, I’m fighting for everyone who is abused, shamed,” she said. “I can’t change the world, but I will continue to speak out, speak out against this behavior, use my platform for something good and support others and give others a voice and try to make it happen. so that others feel less alone and afraid.”

Dokic has spoken in the past about his mental health issues. Last June, in a video posted on Instagram, she revealed that she almost took her own life and said professional help saved her.