Jelena Dokic overcame adversity, poverty and violence to rise to the top of the tennis world. Years later, her revelations about her father's abuse stunned the world. (CW: discussion of domestic violence and coercive control).

Jelena Dokic overcame adversity, poverty and violence to rise to the top of the tennis world. Years later, her revelations about her father's abuse stunned the world. (CW: discussion of domestic violence and coercive control).

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.

Further information

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Content warning: this episode of Conversations contains discussion about domestic violence and coercive control.

This episode of Conversations also talks about sport, training, family, origin stories, parenting, relationships, childhood trauma, sports commentary, online trolls, refugees, security, control, family violence, therapy, mental health, identity, disordered eating, books, documentary film, reflection, culture, meaning, Australian, counselling, conversational story, and memoir.

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.