Jelena continues to impress at the BMW Malaysian Tennis Open
Serbian born Jelena Dokiæ who first rose to the court’s prominence a decade ago, is currently making headlines at the on-going BMW Malaysian Open 2011 being held at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort.
Despite drawing top seed and world number 4 Francesca Schiavone in the first round, Dokic has overcome the odds stacked against her, and is a serious contender for the singles crown. She will face Serb Bojana Jovanovski in the quarterfinals tomorrow (Friday) for a place in the semi-finals.
“I have come to Malaysia for this tournament in good physical and mental shape. I am feeling better and fitter and because of this, I am able to play well. I take every game one at a time and prepare accordingly. I am very pleased with my serve and I hope to continue to play with consistency, as consistency mean less mistakes and errors,” said Dokic.
During the height of her career, she played for Serbia (formerly known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), and she managed to reach a career-high ranking of world number 4 in late 2002. After several family-related difficulties, she slipped down the rankings in 2006.
She mounted a concerted effort for a serious return to tennis in 2008, and after winning three ITF tournaments that year, she improved her ranking to World number 187. She finished 2009 in the top 100, but fell back down again the rankings in 2010.
The highlights of Dokiæ's career include reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the Sydney Olympics in 2000, as well as reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2002 and the Australian Open in 2009.
On her day, Dokic is unbeatable on the court and she has proven this in the past, with the highlights being beating several former world number 1 players, such as Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters, and Venus Williams. Other high-calibre players whom Dokiæ has defeated include Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankoviæ, Monica Seles, Justine Henin, Amélie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce, Francesca Schiavone and Jennifer Capriati.
Jelena was born in Osijek, Croatia, to a Serbian father, Damir Dokiæ, and a Croatian mother, Ljiljana. She has a younger brother, Savo, who is eight years her junior. Her family lived in Osijek until mid-1991, when they left due to the civil war. They settled in Sombor, Serbia, for a short time and later, in 1994, migrated to Australia. From 1994, they lived in Fairfield, a suburb of Sydney.
Dokiæ’s talent was unquestionable from early on as she was also an accomplished junior player. In 1998, she won the US Open girls singles title and the French Open doubles with Kim Clijsters, ending the season ranked World No. 1 in the International Tennis Federation junior singles rankings and World No. 7 in doubles.
In 1999 Dokiæ started the year by teaming up with Mark Philippoussis to win the Hopman Cup title. To date, it is Australia's lone victory at the event. At Wimbledon, Dokiæ made her professional breakthrough. As a qualifier, she caused one of the biggest upsets in tennis history, defeating World number 1 Hingis is straight sets in the first round. Ranked World No. 129 at the time, she was the lowest-ranked player to have defeated the top seed in a Grand Slam tournament. Dokiæ also reached her first WTA doubles final with Amanda Coetzer in Tokyo. During 1999, Dokiæ jumped an astonishing 298 spots in the world rankings, finishing the year at World number 43.
In 2000, during the spring clay court season, Dokiæ reached the quarterfinals of the Tier I event in Rome, upsetting Venus Williams, as well as earning Fed Cup victories over Kim Clijsters, Anna Kournikova, and Sandrine Testud respectitively.
At the 2000 Summer Olympics, representing Australia, she lost to Monica Seles in the bronze medal match. Dokiæ finished the year at World No. 26. In 2001 after the Australian Open, her family moved to the United States. She finished the year at World No. 8. In the same year, the Yugoslav Olympic Committee has declared for the sportswoman of the year. In 2002, Dokiæ reached her career-high singles ranking of World No. 4.
She cites Mary Pierce, Jennifer Capriati, and Andre Agassi as inspirational figures she follows towards her goal of reaching the highest echelons of tennis once more.
Dokic is a very determined and fierce competitor who is willing to push herself beyond her limits, and she is not afraid to subtly criticize those who are lackadaisical She once infamously said, "Some players just don't have it mentally to go through all that hard work, which I find is not a problem with me."
Despite her on and off court problems from time to time, Dokiæ is fully committed to her tennis career and she is bent on being the best that she can be on the court with a racquet.
She said, "I have had a lot to deal with in my career but I am not done yet" and "I will keep coming back."
In 2011, Dokic started her 2011 campaign by receiving three main draw wildcards during the Australian summer, in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. Even though she did not win any tournament, she played well and managed to get back into the World’s top 100, at number 91.
Prior to taking part in the BMW Malaysian Open, Dokic participated at the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open with little success. Dokic’s decision not to miss this year’s BMW Malaysian Open has so far paid off for her as she scored her biggest win of the year thus far by upsetting World No. 5, 2010 French Open Champion, and top seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the first round, despite serving 15 double faults. This is her first win against a top 5 player since 2003, where she defeated then world number one player Kim Clijsters at a tournament in Zurich. She then defeated Japan's Kurumi Nara in the second round, to advance to her second WTA quarterfinals this year, where she will face eight-seed Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia.
The BMW Malaysian Open 2011, a leg of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour – The world’s leading professional sport for women is being held from 28th February to 6th March 2011 at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort. The tournament has 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams’ competing in a knockout style competition for the prize purse of USD 220,000.00.
Tickets for the tournament can be obtained from TicketPro through their website at www.ticketpro.com.my or by calling +603 7880 7999. For ticket prices and other information log on to the official website of the tournament at www.bmwmalaysianopen.com.
