Jelena Dokic tried to reconcile with her father and his response shocked her: ‘I don’t think he ever loved me’

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Tennis star Jelena Dokic has revealed a disturbing reaction from her father after she tried to repair their relationship.

The 42-year-old former tennis champion endured years of terrible abuse from her father, Damir, who passed away in May at the age of 67.

As a lifestyle expert, I’ve seen many difficult situations, and this one is particularly heartbreaking. Jelena shared on Australian Story that her abuser displayed absolutely no regret for his actions, and consistently rejected any effort she made to try and heal the relationship. It was a complete lack of accountability, and sadly, a common pattern in abusive dynamics.

In an interview with Leigh Sales, Jelena revealed she often wondered if Damir had ever truly loved her – a feeling she explored in her honest autobiography, *Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story*.

‘I’ve come to accept that he doesn’t love me and he never did,’ she said.

‘I’m a firm believer that you can’t do that to someone if you love them.’

Jelena added that she attempted to reconcile with Damir after leaving home at age 19. 

However, those attempts fell on deaf ears.

Jelena said she attempted to make amends with her father a few times, about two or three years after she moved out.

I really hoped things could be different this time. I kept thinking, ‘Maybe now that we’re both older, he’s changed.’ Honestly, I didn’t even *want* to talk about tennis. I just wanted a normal father-daughter relationship, you know? That’s really all I’ve ever wanted.

Continuing, Jelena revealed that Damir  had shown ‘no remorse’ over his actions.

I gave it my best shot, but it just didn’t work out,” she explained. “It’s really difficult when someone doesn’t seem to care or feel bad at all.

‘In fact, he said he would do it all again.’  

She explained that it was a difficult time, but she ultimately had to choose to remove herself from a very unhealthy and damaging situation. She realized it simply wasn’t good for her well-being.

He completely cut me out of his life – he never called, never visited. We didn’t speak for ten years. He died a few months ago, and while it’s sad, I feel like that’s just how things were meant to be.

In an interview on the Mental As Anyone Podcast in May, Jelena shared that she hadn’t been able to forgive her father, but she also couldn’t feel hatred towards him.

She explained that forgiveness isn’t about letting the person who hurt you off the hook, but about freeing yourself from the pain.

I don’t completely agree with that idea. I can move forward with my life without necessarily forgiving him.

I’ve come to terms with everything that happened – it is what it is, and this is the life I got. But surprisingly, I don’t harbor any hatred towards him. It might seem strange, but I haven’t reached the point of forgiveness either. It just… is.

During the podcast, Jelena shared harrowing details about the abuse she experienced, revealing she feared for her life.

She explained that she left home when she was 19, running away during a tennis tournament because the abuse had become dangerously violent and she feared for her life.

‘A lot of that pressure and abuse continued,’ she added.

My father’s actions continued to cause me problems, but the biggest struggle was the impact on my mental health. In 2005, at 22 years old, I came very close to ending my life.

Looking back, I realize I was struggling with a lot – anxiety, depression, PTSD, and an eating disorder. I kept playing professional tennis even while dealing with these issues.

In her 2017 autobiography, Unbreakable, Jelena described the severe physical and emotional abuse she experienced from her father.

The book inspired a documentary called Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story, which came out in movie theaters in 2024.

The documentary also aired on Channel Nine in January 2025.

After the show aired, social media was flooded with messages of support for the former top tennis player, who revealed that her father once knocked her unconscious after a match she lost.

Brendan Fevola, a famous Australian rules footballer, described Jelena Dokic’s experiences as ‘horrific.’ Meanwhile, Denis Istomin, a former tennis player from Uzbekistan, believes Dokic had the talent to reach the level of a superstar like Serena Williams.

Many tennis fans applauded Dokic’s strength and ability to bounce back, with one fan suggesting she could have won several Grand Slam tournaments if she’d had a more supportive environment.

Jelena had the most success in her tennis career between 1999 and 2002, reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 1999 and the semi-finals there in 2000. She also made it to the quarter-finals of the French Open in 2002.

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2025-10-14 04:04