Navigating Abuse and Identity in Tennis

Jelena Dokic on the trauma and violence which underscored her extraordinary life in tennis, and how she worked to change her own story(CW: discussion of family violence, eating disorders) (R)

After arriving in Australia with her family as a refugee, Jelena Dokic became a tennis champion while still a teenager.

But her father’s drunken outbursts at Jelena’s tournaments got even more headlines than her playing.

What the world didn’t know was that Jelena’s father was also violently assaulting her and had been since the day she first picked up a tennis racquet.

Jelena finally found the courage to tell the truth about what happened to her, but she discovered that was only the first step in escaping her father.

This episode of Conversations explores family dynamics, origin story, body shaming, dysfunctional families, abuse allegations, childhood abuse, child athletes, elite athletes, the Australian Open, Tennis, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Shelton, Alex de Minaur, Madison Keys, Iga Świątek, Aryna Sabalenka.