Jelena Dokic has lived a very extraordinary life in just 34 years.

From the outside, she seemed to have the perfect story. She was a refugee turned world number four on the tennis circuit and by 16, she had defeated world number one Martina Hingis at Wimbledon.

But on the inside, Jelena was struggling. Her father and coach, Damir, started abusing her when she was just six years old. He’d beat her, take her money, lock her out of hotel rooms and taunt her. At one stage, he even made her change nationalities from Australian to Yugoslavian.

Until one day, when she was 19, she decided to leave home. And she’s never looked back.

Show Notes

Your host is Mia Freedman.

With thanks to special guest Jelena Dokic

Buy Jelena's book Unbreakable by going to apple.co/mamamia

This podcast was produced by Elissa Ratliff 

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