Jelena Dokic has had a storied and well-documented life and tennis career both on and off the tennis court. Jelena started playing tennis when she was six years old. Very quickly she became the national champion in multiple age groups. However, the war erupted in former Yugoslavia and the family was forced to escape twice. Jelena and her family were refugees twice before settling in Australia when she was 11 years old.

In 1998, as a 15-year-old, Jelena won the US Open junior title and the French Open doubles title. She became number 1 junior in the world in 1998 and also made a Fed Cup debut the same year winning both her singles matches and becoming the youngest player ever to represent Australia in the Fed Cup. At the age of 16, she caused one of the biggest upsets in tennis history beating world number 1 Martina Hingis as a qualifier. It still remains the only time a world number 1 has lost to a qualifier at Wimbledon. She went on to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon that year and it catapulted Jelena to prominence on the world stage.

Her rise continued as she reached the semi-final of Wimbledon the following year in 2000 at the age of 17, the first Australian woman to do so since Evonne Goolagong Cawley. Jelena also finished 4th at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

After a string of injuries and a battle with depression, Jelena made a comeback to tennis and had an unprecedented run at the 2009 Australian Open reaching the quarterfinals and also winning her first WTA title in nine years in Kuala Lumpur.

Jelena has penned the best-selling autobiography ‘Unbreakable’, a book which details her career and her life. In the book, she details the struggles of being a refugee, dealing with poverty, racism, bullying, and discrimination. She also talks about the physical and emotional abuse she suffered for over 20 years at the hands of her father which started when she was just six years old. She also talks about dealing with heavy depression and almost committing suicide. Jelena will also be awarded the Momentum Most Inspiring Woman of the Year Award in 2018.

Jelena now pours her efforts into commentary as one of the key voices for Nine Network’s coverage of the Australian Open. She is also a motivational speaker speaking on topics which include resilience, mental health and empowerment.